University  of  California  •  Berkeley 

Bequest  of 
MARIAN  ALLEN  WILLIAMS 


in 


ON  THE  WING. 


RAMBLING    NOTES 


TRIP    TO    THE    PACIFIC. 


MARY    E.     BLAKE, 

[M.  E.  B.] 
Author  of  "Poems,"   "Rambling  Talks,"  etc.,  etc. 


BOSTON: 
LEE  AND  SHEPARD,  PUBLISHERS. 

1683. 


COPYRIGHT, 

1883, 
BY  MARY  E.  BLAKE. 


PRINTED     BY 

JAMES    S.    ADAMS, 
BOSTON,  MASS. 


INTRODUCTION. 


A  DEM  AND  from  many  quarters,  —  which  a 
servant. of  the  public  has  no  right  to  disre- 
gard,—  and  the  interest  evinced  by  a  wide 
circle  of  readers,  when  the  letters  which  make  up 
the  larger  part  of  these  pages  appeared  last  year 
in  the  Boston  Journal,  have  induced  me  to  offer 
them  again,  revised  and  enlarged,  in  this  more 
permanent  form.  Partly  because  I  think  no  book 
should  ever  be  published  which  requires  apology 
for  its  contents,  and  partly  because  the  title  of 
the  little  volume  sufficiently  explains  its  want 
of  elaboration,  I  shall  make  no  excuse  for  the 
casual  nature  of  the  following  chapters.  For 
what  could  be  expected  of  one  on  the  wing,  but 

bird's-eye  views  ? 

M.  E.  B. 
BOSTON,  January,  1883. 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter.  Page. 

I.  A  FIRST  FLIGHT;   FROM  BOSTON  TO  CHICAGO          .  i 

II.  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  GREAT  WEST          .        .        .11 

JII.  ON  THE  WAY  THROUGH  COLORADO    ....  23 

IV.  THE  GARDEN  OF  THE  GODS 33 

V.  IN  THE  GRAND  CANONS 43 

VI.  THE  BORDER  LANDS  OF  ROMANCE  61 

VII.  THE  CITY  OF  THE  ANGELS 81 

VIII.  A  CALIFORNIA  STAGE-RIDE 99 

IX.  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  GREAT  GRIZZLY  BEAR     .         .  m 

X.  A  CLIMB  THROUGH  THE  CLOUDS 121 

XI.  WITHIN  THE  GOLDEN  GATE 135 

XII.  SOME  OF  THE  WITCHERIES  OF  CALIFORNIA  .        .        .  145 

XIII.  ECCENTRICITIES  OF  CALIFORNIA           ....  159 

XIV.  AMONG  THE  MINES 169 

XV.  IN  THE  CITY  OK  ZION 185 

XVI.  HOMEWARD- BOUND  ACROSS  THK  CONTINENT        .        .  199 

XVII.  A  GLIMPSE  OF  NIAGARA 209 

XVIII.  PROS  AND  CONS  ON  THE  SUBJECT  OF  EXCURSIONS       .  221 


ON  THE  WING. 


CHAPTER    I. 

A    FIRST    FLIGHT  — FROM    BOSTON    TO    CHICAGO. 

THE  first  night  in  a  Wagner  "  sleeper,"  en  route 
for  California,  is  apt  to  be  one  of  the  expe- 
riences of  life.  You  have  not  yet  got  your 
sea-legs  on,  so  to  speak ;  you  have  n't  fully  mastered 
the  seaman-like  roll  which  is  to  carry  you  safely 
over  the  heaving  deck  of  the  palace  car ;  the  manage- 
ment of  your  equilibrium  bothers,  and  you  are  just 
sufficiently  dazed  and  tired  to  be  a  little  miserable 
whether  or  no.  When  the  time  comes  to  enter  your 
bunk,  even  if  it  has  a  double  berth,  you  lose  heart 
still  more.  It  looks  so  straight,  and  the  curtains  so 
heavy,  you  bump  your  poor  head  getting  in  and  your 
poor  back  getting  out ;  you  are  tingling  yet  with  a  sort 
of  sub-acute  excitement  at  the  danger  and  daring  of 
your  rash  act  in  going  west  on  a  flying  trip  through 
the  dark,  and  the  spasms  of  home-sickness,  which 
have  been  coming  and  going  at  intervals  all  day,  begin 
to  settle  into  a  sober  ache  of  longing.  In  this  strait, 
such  minor  shocks  to  your  sensitiveness  as  a  glimpse 
now  and  again  of  a  gentlemanly  young  fellow  in  his 
shirt-sleeves,  or  a  lady-like  young  person  in  her  corset 
cover,  become  rather  exhilarating  than  otherwise,  as 
proclaiming  your  release  from  conventionalities,  and  as 
rubbing  off  that  dust  of  conservatism  which  naturallv 


2  ON  THE   WING. 

clings  about  any  bit  of  New  England  society.  You 
peep  out  occasionally  to  see  how  the  rest  are  getting 
on,  until  nothing  is  left  but  the  empty,  narrow  aisle 
in  the  middle,  and  then  at  last  compose  your  own 
decorous  nightcap  to  sleep.  But  a  sense  of  responsi- 
bility remains  with  you.  Every  time  through  the  long 
night  that  the  car  gives  a  lurch,  you  sit  up  to  ponder 
its  meaning ;  every  time  the  whistle  sounds  you  draw 
your  curtain  to  know  what  it  means.  A  vague  im- 
pression that  the  engineer  needs  watching  and  guid- 
ance rests  with  you,  and  weights  even  your  short 
dreams  with  personal  care.  You  are  not  a  bit  nervous 
—  just  as  cool  as  the  very  hot  atmosphere  of  the  car 
will  allow  one  to  be  —  but  you  prefer  getting  up  every 
half-hour  to  see  that  things  are  properly  attended  to. 
Farther  up,  an  easy  old  traveller  sleeps  soundly  and 
loudly;  could  habit  ever  m^Q you  so  selfish  ? 

Your  sleepless  disinterestedness  pays  in  the  end; 
you  get  so  much  more  for  your  money.  Why,  here 
last  night,  in  different  glimpses,  were  first  an  illumi- 
nated city  —  its  flaring  lights  streaming  high  into  the 
misty  air  like  an  Aurora;  then  a  gaunt  row  of  spectral 
poplars  standing  like  soldierly  ghosts  in  the  white 
moonlight ;  now  a  thunderous  passage  of  some  flash- 
ing meteoric  train,  and  again  the  shadow  of  a  quiet 
town  asleep  on  a  hillside ;  once  we  tore  through  a 
tunnel  with  dismal  and  awful  shriek  into  the  colored 
signals  and  electric  brilliancy  of  a  great  crossing  ;  and 
once,  just  as  the  sky  began  to  change  to  the  faint 
opalescence  of  dawn,  there  was  Cassiopeia,  low  down 
in  the  north,  with  each  of  her  five  stars  aflame  like  a 


ON  THE   WING.  3 

burning  torch,  looking  in  at  us  in'a  wholly  royal  man- 
ner. And  all  this  thrown  in  like  a  side-show  at  a 
circus  while  you  are  taking  flying  leaps  through  the 
darkness  at  the  rate  of  forty  miles  an  hour !  A  sym- 
pathising friend  who  heard  all  this  next  morning,  con- 
soled me  by  the  prediction  that  I  would  sleep  like  a 
top  to-morrow.  But  poople  who  desire  to  sleep  like 
tops  should  always  stay  to  hum  —  that  is  not  what  we 
paid  our  money  and  came  West  for. 

"  How  did  I  get  in  a  Wagner  sleeping  car  ?  "  Well, 
that's  neither  here  nor  there.  If  a  busy  home-body 
chooses  to  pack  her  trunk  one  day  and  go  on  a  Ray- 
mond excursion  the  next, whose  business  is  it?  Isn't 
it  the  only  way  for  a  busy  home-body  to  go  ?  If  she 
stops  to  consider  all  the  pros  and  cons,  —  the  baby's 
new  tooth,  the  spring  house-cleaning,  the  chances  of 
coughs  and  colds,  the  children's  changes  for  summer, 
the  general  depravity  of  inanimate  things,  in  fact, 
which  works  such  infernal  revolutions  in  a  household 
when  its  natural  head  is  absent,  —  if  she  waits  to  think 
of  these,  —  the  stay-at-home  weight  will  be  so  over- 
whelming in  proportion  that  she  could  not  be  pro- 
pelled away  by  anything  short  of  a  catapult.  She 
who  hesitates  is  lost.  The  only  part  for  a  valiant 
woman  is  to  buy  her  ticket,  close  her  eyes,  and  at  one 
fell  swoop  leave  all  behind  her.  It  was  the  plunge  of 
Curtius  which  saved  Rome. 

We  started  on  a  gray  day,  teary  and  dreary  like  our 
feelings,  but  with  occasional  bright  gleams  and  fair 
promise  of  a  joyous  to-morrow.  A  railroad  car  is 
never  particularly  cheery,  and  is  too  business-like  to 


4  ON  THE   WING. 

be  picturesque ;  bul  by  the  time  you  get  your  wraps 
disposed  in  graceful  negligence,  your  extra  bundles 
put  away,  and  the  flowers  which  loving  hands  have 
brought  to  breathe  their  sweet  message  of  fragrant 
remembrance  disposed  to  the  best  advantage,  your 
particular  section  manages  to  put  on  a  home  look. 
You  find,  too,  that  of  all  other  places  it  is  the  best  for 
fraternizing.  Strangers  in  the  morning  are  acquaint- 
ances at  night  and  friends  by  breakfast  time. 

There  is  nothing  like  travel  for  giving  a  person 
broad  views  of  men  and  things,  and  crushing  in  the 
bud  puerile  enthusiasms.  For  what  other  reason  can 
the  man  who  goes  to  Europe  for  two  months  sit  calmly 
down  on  his  neighbors  for  the  term  of  his  natural  life  ? 
For  what  other  reason  could  we,  who  ordinarily  would 
rave  so  loudly  and  long  over  the  Berkshire  Hills,  look 
at  them  now  with  the  supercilious,  well-bred  indiffer- 
ence of  people  on  their  way  to  Pike's  Peak  and  the 
Rocky  Mountains  ?  A  woman  who  has  a  proper  regard 
for  her  nervous  centres  cannot  afford  to  begin  to  gush 
a  hundred  miles  from  the  start,  when  she  has  nine 
thousand  miles  of  a  journey  still  before  her.  The 
climax  would  be  too  terrific.  So  we  crossed  the  State 
line  into  New  York  in  heroic  silence. 

But  when  we  began  next  morning  to  pass  through 
the  beautiful  meadows  of  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio, 
when  the  lagging  sun  came  out  at  noon  and  found  us 
still  passing  fields  as  level  and  green  as  the  baize  of  a 
billiard  table,  when  night  fell  while  we  were  seemingly 
in  the  midst  of  that  beautiful,  fertile,  stoneless  reach, 
we  began  to  talk  in  spite  of  ourselves.  Fresh  from 


ON  THE   WING.  5 

the  rock-ribbed  soil  of  New  England,  where  only  by 
mistake  a  little  earth  is  occasionally  found  sifted  over 
the  granite  foundation,  these  smooth,  flawless  stretches 
of  country  are  beyond  any  conception  we  can  form  of 
them.  Even  the  rich  brown  soil,  covered  now  with 
the  faint  green  of  freshly-springing  wheat  and  grain, 
was  not  so  novel  to  our  eyes  as  this  wonderful  free- 
dom from  any  vestige  of  stoniness.  The  brakeman 
who  heard  us  commenting  so  delightedly  over  this 
was  evidently  nonplussed.  "  I  shed  be  more  s'prised 
ef  et  iuuz  rocky,"  said  he;  "in  these  parts  ef  a  man 
scoops  in  a  stun  that  weighs  fifty  pounds  he  hauls  it 
hum  an  sets  it  up  in  his  front  yard  for  folks  to  look 
at."  Towards  noon  we  passed  the  tragic  bridge  of 
Ashtabula,  looking  calm  and  innocent  enough,  span- 
ning the  shallow,  brawling  stream  that  danced  in  the 
sunshine  below  it.  A  little  later  on,  the  red  roofs  of 
the  pleasant  farm-house,  which  its  dying  master  so 
longed  to  see,  showed  themselves  beyond  the  little 
station  at  Mentor.  There  was  a  group  of  peach  trees 
in  full  bloom,  shining  like  a  pink  flush  between  the 
tender  green  of  budding  apple  trees  ;  the  happy  fields 
were  smiling  at  the  waking  touch  of  growth,  but  our 
hearts  went  out  more  in  accordance  with  the  sorrow- 
ing woman  who  sat  by  her  solitary  fireside,  than  with 
the  living  springtime. 

As  we  enter  Cleveland  I  find  a  disappointment  in 
store.  In  common  with  most  sensible  people,  certain 
words  have  always  had  a  strange  power  of  exciting 
me  to  romance  and  conjecture.  Vinelands  and  vine- 
yards belonged  to  this  catalogue ;  so  when  they  told 


6  ON  THE  WING. 

us  we  would  reach  the  grape  country  soon,  visions  of 
sunny,  sloping  hillsides,  with  shadows  filtering  through 
broad  leaves  and  graceful  tendrils  climbing  over  rustic 
arches  were  in  my  mind.  It  was  no  use  for  common 
sense  to  say  it  was  not  yet  summer ;  common  sense 
is  the  slave  of  imagination,  and  as  such  ordered  about 
without  mercy.  Imagine  then  the  shock,  of  acre  after 
acre  of  short  stakes,  thick  and  clumsy,  as  if  some 
enterprising  Natick  boot  manufacturer  had  planted 
shoe-pegs  for  seed  and  they  had  grown  up,  for  that 
was  all  we  saw  of  the  vineyards.  The  vines  were  not 
yet  out  of  bed ;  but  the  city  itself  is  a  pleasant  one, 
and  shows  its  kindly  side  to  strangers  in  the  beautiful 
park  which  skirts  the  railroad. 

Lake  Erie  was  in  one  of  her  surly  moods  after  a 
long  storm,  which  had  riled  her  naturally  placid  com- 
plexion into  muddiness.  There  was  none  of  the  lovely 
blue  of  my  beloved  old  ocean,  and  even  the  passing 
sails  of  far-away  ships  could  not  make  it  have  the 
proper  effect.  We  began  after  dinner  to  come  across 
little  log  cabins  here  and  there,  and  girls  and  women 
dowered  with  that  enormous  sunbonnet  which  seems 
to  be  a  birthright  of  the  Southern  and  Western  pretty 
maid.  Two  rosy-cheeked  poppets  on  the  platform  of 
a  country  station  we  passed,  flirting  with  an  awkward 
young  Hoosier,  showed  that  this  sort  of  inelegant  head- 
gear can  be  made  as  eloquent  as  a  Gainsborough  hat, 
when  the  head  it  covers  is  young  and  beautiful. 

Still  the  same  level,  smiling  fields,  the  rushing  train 
flying  in  a  straight  arrow  line  through  them.  There 
is  very  little  unpleasant  motion.  Some  drowsy  ones 


ON   THE   WING.  7 

are  dreaming  away  on  improvised  pillows;  some  are 
reading;  some  visiting  neighbors;  —  it  seems  as  if  we 
were  already  so  used  to  the  novelty  that  we  have  been 
here  a  month  instead  of  a  day.  At  Toledo  a  sonorous 
gong,  which  I  suppose  is  the  sort  of  guitar  the  Toledo 
blades  use  in  serenading,  woos  us  to  supper.  The 
small  boy  who  bangs  it  evidently  means  to  earn  his 
money.  We  find  the  usual  unusually  good  meal  wait- 
ing. On  this  point  the  excursionists  have  made  a  ten- 
strike  ;  they  live  on  the  fat  of  whatever  land  in  which 
they  happen  to  tarry. 

It  seemed,  at  first,  as  if  a  different  atmosphere 
should  mark  our  passage  across  each  state  line, — 
some  change  of  feeling  or  temperature  to  mark  our 
progression  between  the  somewhat  finical  straight- 
ness  of  Eastern  limitations,  and  the  broad  unfinished 
mental  processes  of  the  West.  But  though  we  have 
tumbled  over  six  boundaries  already,  I  would  never 
have  known  we  had  left  New  England,  except  for  the 
level  country  and  the  queer,  slovenly,  zigzag  fences. 
And  yet  the  simple  consciousness  of  distance  shadows 
our  jubilant  spirits  as  the  second  day  begins  to  darken, 
and  the  thought  of  home  leaves  us,  like  Huldy, — 

"All  kind  o'  smily  round  the  lips 
An'  teary  round  the  lashes." 

The  porter  of  our  sleeping-car  must  have  moral 
designs  in  keeping  us  so  hot.  He  either  wants  to 
frighten  us  into  a  belief  in  eternal  punishment,  or  to 
frighten  us  out  of  it.  At  five  o'clock  this  morning,  when 
we  awoke  in  the  Chicago  depot,  it  would  have  done 


ON   THE  WING. 

for  a  page  of  Dante's  Inferno.  I  finished  my  toilet  in 
the  open  outer  air,  rather  than  smother  within.  But 
we  gave  the  young  African  his  tip  all  the  same,  for 
lie  did  it  out  of  kindness. 

After  one  day  of  walking  and  riding  around  Chicago, 
our  impressions  are  like  a  kaleidoscope.  So  flat  a 
place  was  never  before  known ;  it  seems  as  if  a  spirit- 
level  had  been  taken,  and  even  the  usual  slight  curve 
of  the  earth's  surface  smoothed  off.  Then  they  set 
out  Chicago.  But  they  have  large  hearts  and  noble 
ideas,  these  Western  people.  The  stately,  broad 
avenues  go  in  such  magnificently  broad  lines,  straight 
as  an  arrow's  flight,  from  lake  to  prairie.  The  beauti- 
ful mansions,  each  set  in  its  square  of  green  lawn, 
give  a  beauty  and  oddity  to  the  richer  part  that  the 
business  portion  does  not  carry  out.  Looking  from 
the  Sherman  House,  one  might  really  be  looking  up 
State  street,  except  for  the  extra  dinginess  which*  the 
soft  coal  adds  to  the  great  buildings.  You  can  almost 
feel  the  smutchiness.  Looking  down  across  the  busi- 
ness portions,  the  heavy  smoke  clouds  hang  like  a  pall 
low  down  even  into  the  streets.  I  am  afraid  it  would 
spoil  a  good  deal  of  the  pleasure  of  life  here  for  me. 
We  have  seen  wonders  and  wonders,  but  who  wants 
to  be  bored  with  details  of  sight-seeing  when  they  can 
come  some  other  time  and  see  for  themselves  —  when 
they  can  roll  magnificently  through  the  gas-lit  bowels 
of  the  earth  with  ships  sailing  above  their  heads, 
or  stand  in  awe  and  admiration  before  those  four 
gigantic  engines  at  the  water-works  of  which  one 
alone  pumps  36,000,000  gallons  a  day,  or  see  the  enor- 


ON   THE    WING.  9 

mous  stock-yards,  or  investigate  the  still  more  enor- 
mous grain-elevators.  The  place  is  meant  for  a  race 
of  giants  —  and  they  are  giants  in  energy  and  large- 
heartedness.  This  is  why  when  one  of  them  grasps 
your  hand  with  that  firm,  Western  clasp,  you  feel 
no  longer  a  stranger  in  a  strange  city,  but  a  friend 
made  at  home  by  loving  kindness,  with  a  strong 
support  behind  you  which  will  back  you  for  all  it  is 
worth. 

We  are  still  in  the  same  world  as  at  home,  however. 
The  troops  of  pretty  girls  you  left  in  Washington 
street  are  here  walking  up  Clark  street  with  the  same 
fluffy  hair,  big  hats,  and  long  satin  overcoats.  Spring 
dresses  are  not  out  yet,  though  we  were  passing 
dandelions  and  buttercups  on  the  fields  for  hours 
yesterday.  Men  and  women  may  have  a  shade  of 
better  color  in  their  faces,  but  otherwise  there  is  no 
change.  They  talk  of  "  blocks  "  in  describing  distances 
just  as  they  do  in  New  York,  and  advertise  houses 
"for  rent ''  instead  of  to  let.  They  speak  with  a  little 
more  breadth  in  their  vowels  and  honest  attention  to 
consonants,  wisely  thinking  that  if  they  were  not  in- 
tended for  use  the  words  would  have  been  spelled 
without  them;  otherwise  they  are  bone  of  our  bone 
and  flesh  of  our  flesh. 

The  streets  on  Saturday  night  are  simply  swarming. 
I  think  nobody  can  be  left  at  home,  and  the  wooden 
pavements  are  in  the  most  awful  condition,  once  you 
get  out  of  the  really  busy  portion.  A  ship  in  a  storm 
is  nothing  to  the  tossing  our  barouche  and  poor 
bones  got  yesterday.  It  is  another  of  the  evils  of  the 


10  ON  THE   WING. 

republics  that  such  persons  as  whoever  the  man  may 
be  who  took  the  contract  for  this  work  and  made  such 
a  wretched  bungle  of  it  cannot  be  instantly  beheaded,, 
as  a  salutary  warning  to  his  kind.  Two  or  three  sum- 
mary executions  would  save  enough  profanity  to  work 
a  larger  revival  than  Moody  and  Sankey's. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE    BEGINNING    OF    THE    GREAT    WEST. 

THE  more  one  sees  of  Chicago,  the  more  the 
difference  between  it  and  an  Eastern  city 
impresses  itself.  To  walk  the  streets  on 
Sunday  and  see  furniture  wagons  moving  loads  of 
goods,  the  doors  of  hundreds  of  shops  open,  while 
buying  and  selling  went  on,  and  crowds  bent  on 
evidently  temporal  business,  mingling  with  decorous 
church-goers,  was  strange  enough.  But  to  travel 
at  night,  under  the  glare  of  gas  and  electric  lights,  to 
see  theatre  doors  swarming  with  pleasure  seekersr 
brilliantly  illuminated  stores,  immense  number  of  Ger- 
mans with  their  deep-mouthed  gutturals,  and  the  open 
halls  and  pleasure  gardens,  made  stronger  inroad  still 
on  the  hereditary  prejudices  of  descendants  of  the 
Pilgrims.  If  another  conflagration  had  swept  the 
place,  like  Sodom,  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  it  would 
have  been  to  many  minds  among  us  only  the  just 
reward  of  its  iniquities.  Yet  what  right  have  we  to 
raise  our  own  standard  of  morals  and  make  every  one 
else  doff  his  hat  in  passing?  The  foundations  of 
religious  belief  ought  to  lie  too  deep  for  such  passing 
winds  to  shake;  and  it  would  take  much  stronger 
proof  to  convince  me  that  there  are  not  as  many  saints, 
in  Chicago  as  in  Boston. 


12  ON   THE   WING. 

We  found  a  mild  flavor  of  the  great  fire  still  in  the 
air;  it  will  take  a  new  generation  to  heal  the  scar. 
Events  reckon  from  before  or  after,  relics  linger  in 
private  and  public  places,  and  the  harrowing  memories 
of  ruin  and  desolation  still  rankle  in  many  hearts.  But 
this  is  sub  rosa;  outwardly,  the  brave,  lusty  city  might 
be  a  hundred  years  old  for  any  trace  of  ruin  or  imma- 
turity about  it.  The  same  magnificence  of  resource 
which  shows  itself  in  its  350  acres  of  stock-yards,  in 
its  forest  of  elevators,  in  its  miles  of  new  avenues,  in 
the  stupendous  rush  of  its  business  streets,  is  behind 
everything.  It  opens  the  hands  and  hearts  of  its 
people  to  a  hospitality  as  broad  as  its  dimensions;  it 
puts  a  fine,  impulsive  swing  into  their  everyday  gait ; 
it  makes  a  background  of  reality  for  the  fabulous 
stories  of  wealth  and  enterprise  which  are  in  the  air. 
You  can  fully  believe  that  any  Chicagoan,  as  well  as 
the  man  pointed  out,  might  have  found  himself,  on  re- 
tiring from  business,  with  a  million  and  a  half  more  than 
he  counted  on,  or  that  any  other  might  have  answered 
a  friendly  sympathizer,  with  the  lordly  indifference  of 

Mr. ,  who  indorsed  a  note  for  two  millions  and 

had  to  pay  it :  "  O,  I  never  look  back  at  that  sort  of 
thing !  "  You  can  fully  believe  anything  of  a  place 
where  porter-house  steak  costs  only  sixteen  cents  a 
pound ;  where  strawberries  come  in  March  and  go  in 
November;  where  the  horse  cars  run  without  horses; 
where  the  people  have  an  amount  of  spiritual  elasticity 
which  enables  them  to  go  to  church  Sunday  morning 
and  to  opera  Sunday  night  without  destroying  their 
usual  poise,  and  where  the  world  is  so  flat  that  it  seems 


ON   THE   WING.  13 

as  if  Dame  Nature  had  mistaken  the  crust  of  the  earth 
for  pastry  and  rolled  it  with  a  rolling-pin. 

Remembering  the  markets  of  Philadelphia  and 
Washington,  we  were  somewhat  disappointed  in  those 
of  Chicago.  There  was  nothing  distinctive  about 
them,  as  compared  with  the  luscious  piles  of  fruits 
and  flowers,  the  sweet-smelling  heaps  of  freshly- 
grated  co(  oanut,  the  tempting  pats  of  butter  hidden 
under  gre^n  leaves,  and  the  shining  white  eyes  and 
black  face?'*  of  the  turbaned  huxters  in  the  spacious 
southern  quarters.  Before  you  begin  to  question,  you 
might  be  7,mong  any  collection  of  provision  dealers,, 
ruddy-cherked  and  white-aproned,  of  your  native  city, 
but  as  sorn  as  you  hear  the  price  list,  you  know  that 
this  is  another  world.  One  does  n't  wonder  that 
pruder/.t  .housekeepers  here  hesitate  about  coming  to 
Bostcr.  to  live. 

We  need  to  come  West  to  understand  the  luxury 
of  modern  travel.  The  spirit  of  enterprise  is  so  ram- 
p?nt  here  —  the  population  are  so  constantly  moving,, 
prospecting,  investigating,  colonizing,  that  they  lavish 
time  and  skill  in  eliminating  every  drawback  from 
the  comfort  of  railway  life.  As  a  natural  consequence 
their  cars  are  the  best  in  the  world.  The  Pullman  is 
brighter,  roomier,  and  more  convenient  than  the  Wag- 
ner. The  sections  are  larger ;  the  mattress  and  pillows 
wider  and  softer ;  the  toilet  arrangements  more  plenti- 
ful. Add  to  this  that  you  have  acquired  a  certain 
savoir  faire  —  you  know  what  you  want  and  how  to 
get  it;  you  have  learned  to  go  from  one  end  to 
the  other  of  the  train  while  at  full  speed  without  too 


14  ON  THE  WING. 

many  false  steps.  You  begin  to  have  a  certain  home 
feeling  in  the  tidy  compartment,  which  is  your  es- 
pecial property,  with  its  mirror  between  the  two  broad 
windows,  its  portable  table  and  its  silver  hooks.  The 
brightest  of  mulatto  boys  waits  your  beck  to  bring 
a  clean,  white  pillow  for  your  tired  head,  to  brush 
your  dusty  clothes,  to  fetch  messages,  to  gather  up 
any  incidental  rubbish  of  orange-peel  or  peanut  shell  or 
paper  scrap.  You  can  write  if  the  mood  takes  you,  or 
play  games,  or  read  your  neighbor's  books ;  if  you 
want  anything  under  the  sun,  from  a  cambric  needle 
to  a  French  bonbon,  from  a  postage  stamp  to  an  en- 
cyclopaedia, there  are  a  score  of  valises  besides  your 
own  to  choose  from.  There  are  books,  magazines, 
newspapers,  maps,  guide-books,  and  time-tables  in  be- 
Avildering  array  to  consult ;  there  are  country  depots  to 
raid  upon,  and  country  people  to  startle,  at  queer  far- 
away places ;  there  are  Mayflowers  to  gather  and 
strange  beetles  to  impale  at  prairie  watering  stations; 
and  there  are  the  observations  to  make  that  belong  to 
this  new  order  of  things.  Each  car  in  the  long  train 
lias  its  own  special  recommendation ;  one  has  the 
prettiest  young  girl,  one  the  brightest  company,  one 
the  most  elaborate  finish,  and  so  on.  We  modestly 
plume  ourselves  on  the  most  picturesque  young  man 
with  the  most  artistic  leaning  toward  the  fine  arts,  and 
the  nattiest  and  laziest  little  porter  of  the  party, 
41  which  namin'  no  names,  no  offence  can  be  took." 

Owing  to  these  and  a  thousand  other  causes,  the 
third  and  fourth  days  of  railroad  travel  are  less  weary 
than  the  first.  There  is  always  something  unexpected 


ON   THE   WING.  15 

to  keep  one  awake  and  interested  ;  a  long  tract  of  over- 
flowed country,  with  pale  green  cottonwoods  growing 
out  of  the  water  in  a  ravishing  bit  of  aesthetic  color- 
ing, a  forest  of  delicately-tinted  trees,  a  bank  of  bril- 
liant purple  flowers  extending  for  miles  along  the 
track,  or  the  long  majestic  sweep  of  some  great  river, 
turbid  and  furious,  with  a  flight  of  wild  duck  winging 
their  slow  way  northward.  On  the  Mississippi  we 
passed  a  great  steamboat  —  the  steamboat  of  Kit,  and 
the  Octoroon,  and  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  —  top-heavy  to 
our  sea-used  eyes,  with  a  raft  of  acres  of  logs  float- 
ing after  it  from  the  upper  country.  At  Joliet  we  came 
upon  a  crop  of  rocks  for  the  first  time  after  hundreds 
of  miles  of  smooth  prairie ;  and  quarries  of  stone  of 
the  strangest  formation,  as  if  the  strata  were  laid  in 
masonry.  Farther  on  was  a  region  of  coal  mines ;  at 
the  mouth  of  one  a  miner  had  just  emerged  from 
underground.  He  was  a  solitary  and  most  desolate 
figure ;  his  flannel  shirt  open  from  throat  to  waist,  his 
heavy  eyes  lustreless,  his  face  and  bare  arms  as  black 
as  the  coal-bed  from  which  he  had  just  risen.  As  the 
train  slowly  drew  up  at  the  tank  near  by,  he  stood 
motionless,  his  tired  arms  crossed  over  his  patient 
breast,  seemingly  beyond  being  moved  to  anything 
else  than  weary  endurance.  It  gave  me  a  pang  to  see 
his  pathetic  figure  merge  again  into  the  flat  landscape. 
What  right  had  one  part  of  the  world  to  be  butterflies 
and  the  rest  grubs  ? 

But  to  return  to  our  Pullmans.  There  was  a  deli- 
cious siesta  at  early  morning  when  one  first  woke. 
The  uncertainty  which  made  the  night  jerkily  anxious 


l6  ON  THE   WING. 

was  over;  you  no  longer  felt  obliged  to  know  what 
every  twist  or  jar  meant ;  your  faith  in  human  nature 
and  the  employes  of  the  railroad  returned,  and  there 
were  two  good  hours  during  which,  luxuriantly  in- 
dolent, you  could  doze  and  dream,  or  lazily  watch  the 
panoramic  world  whizzing  by  your  window.  The 
soothing  motion,  the  novelty,  the  comfort  were  inde- 
scribable ;  you  could  meditate,  admire,  enjoy  by  turns. 
Your  horizon  was  absolutely  free  from  care.  When 
it  pleased  you  to  get  up,  you  knew  that  there  was 
a  deft  man-of-all-work  to  change  your  bed-chamber 
into  a  drawing-room ;  your  breakfast  would  be  ready 
at  some  clean  country  station,  ordered  beforehand 
by  your  advance  courier ;  every  petty  hindrance  of 
looking  after  or  caring  for  baggage  or  checks  would 
be  lifted  from  your  shoulders,  and  there  was  no  draw- 
back to  the  blissful  ease  of  perfect  freedom.  It 
would  be  ruinous  if  this  lasted  too  long;  so  you 
rather  welcome  the  sudden  jerk  that  bumps  your  head 
against  the  marble  basin  while  performing  your  ablu- 
tions, and  then  tumbles  you  into  an  opposite  corner  — 
you  feel  that  it  makes  you  square  with  fate.  To  be 
too  happy  might  anger  the  gods. 

It  was  lying  this  way  one  morning,  looking,  as  I 
thought,  toward  the  west,  for  the  sun  had  set  on  that 
side  the  evening  before,  that  I  saw  a  glorious  sight. 
Little  by  little,  up  through  the  night,  came  a  tint  of 
loveliest  amber  climbing  above  the  horizon.  Little 
by  little  it  changed,  deepening  into  mellow  orange, 
and  creeping  high  and  higher,  while  flushes  of  rose- 
color  ran  through  it,  until  at  last  the  entire  sky  was 


ON   THE  WING.  17 

one  burning  glory  of  crimson.  While  I  lay  breathless, 
looking  in  wonder  at  such  a  blaze  of  reflected  light, 
the  great  round  sun  lifted  itself  above  the  world,  and 
I  realized  only  then  that  our  direction  had  changed 
during  the  darkness,  so  that  I  had  really  seen  day 
dawn  over  the  plains  of  Kansas. 

It  was  about  this  time  \ve  were  introduced  to  the 
altogether  delightful  idea  of  the  dining-car.  Clean, 
bright,  and  airy,  with  snowy  linen — the  whitest  we 
had  seen  since  leaving  home  —  with  tiny  sideboards, 
set  above  the  tables,  gay  with  glasses  and  a  bit  or 
two  of  Kiota,  with  a  cuisine  that  would  tempt  a 
gourmet,  what  a  nice  bit  of  variety  show  it  made  for 
us.  From  the  speck  of  a  kitchen  at  one  end,  about 
fnree  feet  by  six,  surrounded  by  ovens,  steamers 
and  stew-pans,  came  a  bill  of  fare  with  everything 
from  green-turtle  soup  to  canvas-back  duck,  English 
snipe,  and  olives.  The  cook  was  a  cordon  bleu,  a  real 
chef  in  his  honorable  profession.  How  he  created 
the  forty-seven  dishes  on  his  bill  of  fare  from  such  a 
mite  of  a  laboratory  would  puzzle  any  one  but  such  a 
black  conjurer  as  himself.  I  would  n't  mind  putting 
a  girdle  round  the  earth  at  any  time  with  such  a  com- 
missariat in  front  of  me. 

Kansas  City  is  an  absurd  jumble  of  ups  and  downs. 
We  thought  at  first  the  inhabitants  must  be  aeron- 
auts, who  went  in  balloons  to  reach  their  dwelling 
houses,  but  on  nearer  inspection  we  found  goat-paths 
leading  up  the  edges  of  the  precipices,  and  graded 
roads  reaching  around  them  by  wide  curves.  Look- 
ing at  it  from  the  standpoint  of  babies,  it  would  be  a 


iS  ON   THE   WING. 

dreadful  town  to  live  in.  A  single  misstep  would  roll 
any  well  regulated  child  from  fifty  to  three  hundred 
feet,  according  to  locality.  I  wonder  all  the  grown-up 
people  are  not  cripples.  The  business  town  is  on  the 
flats  by  the  river.  It  is  a  place  of  great  activity. 
Thirteen  railroad  lines  begin  or  terminate  in  it,  and 
the  result  is  stupendous.  That  train  on  your  right 
will  take  you  to  Mexico;  this  on  your  left  to  Boston; 
just  across  there  is  one  placarded  "  For  Colorado, 
Utah,  Idaho,  Nebraska,  Montana,  Oregon  and  Cali- 
fornia," which  is  a  sort  of  multum  in  parvo  only  pos- 
sible in  a  western  station. 

Kansas  itself  is  a  delightful  country.  All  day  we 
rode  between  luxuriant  fields  of  winter  wheat  or 
springing  corn,  interspersed  with  huge  stock-raising 
farms,  each  divided  by  hedges  of  osage-orange  in  the 
full  green  strength  of  early  summer.  We  saw,  too, 
substantial  walls  of  stone  —  a  pretty,  cream-colored 
stone,  that  makes  a  charming  contrast  with  the  vegeta- 
tion—  and  neat,  New  England  rail  fences.  The 
slovenly  Virginia  fence,  which  is  neither  strong  nor 
lovely,  seems  to  be  discarded.  In  these  immense 
fields,  all  kinds  of  mechanical  implements,  moved  by 
horse-power,  enable  one  man  to  do  the  work  of  a 
dozen.  Such  is  the  luxuriant  richness  of  the  loam 
that  it  is  absolutely  black  and  seems  of  inexhaustible 
fertility.  It  could  be  a  granary  for  the  world.  In  the 
towns  one  is  constantly  surprised  by  the  beauty  of  the 
public  buildings,  the  finest  of  which  is  usually  the 
school-house.  Miles  and  miles  away  from  any  vestige 
of  civilization,  beyond  this  always  beautiful  cultiva- 


ON  THE  WING.  19 

tion,  you  come  upon  a  commodious  two-story  farm- 
house, with  a  colony  of  smaller  habitations  clustered 
near.  Across  the  prairie  roads  you  seldom  see  a 
single  horse  driven,  except  for  riding;  usually  a  pair 
of  fine  animals  are  harnessed  to  even  the  smallest 
vehicle.  Here  and  there,  by  the  bank  of  a  river,  or  on 
some  overhanging  cliff,  the  strange  geological  foun- 
dation of  the  country  shows  itself;  a  geometrically 
regular  layer  of  cream-colored  stone,  two  or  three  feet 
in  depth,  set  in  a  deep  bed  of  clay  which  the  touch  of 
time  has  dried  into  a  resemblance  of  sandstone.  In 
the  distance  now  and  again  a  beautiful  rolling  country 
fills  the  horizon,  or  a  fine  forest  of  straight  young  trees 
comes  down  to  the  foreground.  Sometimes  for  miles 
we  follow  the  course  of  the  river,  but  ever  and  always 
the  great  marvel  to  us  is  the  richness  of  the  soil.  It 
is  a  country  of  which  one  might  truly  say,  "  Tickle 
it  with  a  hoe  and  it  laughs  into  a  harvest."  I  can 
see  the  old  New  England  farmer  who  sits  opposite 
growing  gray  hour  by  hour  as  he  looks  upon  this  para- 
dise of  produce  lands,  and  thinks  of  the  rocky  hill- 
sides at  home. 

We  rode  on  the  engine  for  an  hour  one  day,  thanks 
to  the  kind  offices  of  a  friend.  Perched  snugly  on  the 
fireman's  seat,  the  supple,  sturdy  monster,  scarcely 
trembling,  except  as  now  and  then  a  fiery  breath  quiv- 
ered through  his  throttle  valves,  the  dust  and  cinders 
which  had  been  the  bane  of  our  lives  in  the  cars 
behind,  floating  entirely  out  of  our  atmosphere,  we 
dashed  serenely  through  thirty  miles  of  space  as  easily 
as  if  we  were  passing  the  sixty  minutes  in  a  home 


20  ON  THE   WING. 

rocking-chair.  (By  the  way,  the  happy  man  who  ever 
finds  a  Yankee  notion  for  consuming  the  dust  and 
ashes  on  railway  trains  will  enter  into  his  reward  even 
in  the  flesh;  blessing,  fame  and  money — I  put  the 
rewards  in  their  proper  order  of  progression  —  await 
him).  The  wild  western  dash  of  speed,  the  unholy 
noise  of  steam  and  motion,  and  the  fragile  look  of  the 
narrow  white  track  flying  before  us  across  the  world, 
would  have  alarmed  my  usually  quiet  nerves,  if  I  did 
not  understand  my  surroundings.  The  engine  was 
built  at  Hinckley  £  Williams's  on  Harrison  avenue ; 
the  engineer  and  his  assistant  were  born,  one  in 
Somerville  and  the  other  in  Lawrence  ;  my  companion 
was  a  slim  young  Bostonian,  who  could  lead  a  German 
or  give  you  the  Ottello  Fantasie  of  Ernst  one  night 
and  climb  Mont  Blanc  next  morning,  so  I  felt  per- 
fectly at  home.  Such  a  New  England  crowd  would 
never  go  back  on  me.  The  gallant  fireman,  when  not 
engaged  in  shoveling  coal,  explained  the  country 
through  which  we  were  passing.  "Wouldn't  think, 
would  you,  that  that  wheat  'u'd  be  tall  enough  to  hide 
a  man  on  horseback  next  August?"  he  said.  "Its 
the  truth  ;  I  boxed  some  up  'n'  sent  it  home  last  year, 
for  I'm  a  eastern  man  myself.  My  father  stands  six 
foot  two  in  his  stockin's,  an'  'twas  taller 'n  him. 
But  ef  they  kin  beat  us  on  corn  we  Ve  got  the 
bulge  on  them  in  brains.  They  got  to  fall  back  on 
us  yit." 

Indeed,  so  far  we  have  not  been  brought  in  contact 
with  any  really  Western  people.  They  all  seem  to 
have  drifted  here  from  other  places.  But  they  begin 


ON  THE   WING.  21 

to  have  mail-boxes  at  the  stations  labeled  for  "the 
East,"  so  that  we  feel  we  are  at  least  drawing  nearer 
the  star  of  empire. 

Meantime,  we  have  made  up  our  minds  that  it  is  non- 
sense to  talk  of  the  "  tiresomeness  "  of  railway  travel. 
Think  of  the  tribulations  of  our  grandmothers  in  going- 
from  New  York  to  Boston !  Think  of  their  rough 
roads  and  their  jolting,  draughty  carriages,  their  cold 
comfort  and  weary  days;  then  compare  it  with  the 
indolent,  well-warmed,  well-lighted  entourage  of  this 
royal  progress,  and  imagine  yourself  a  martyr  —  if 
you  dare  ! 


CHAPTER  III. 

ON  THE  WAY  THROUGH  COLORADO. 

IT  is  in  Missouri  that  we  first  come  upon  Summer 
and  the  mule.  This  much  abused  but  indispen- 
sable animal  is  a  feature  henceforth  in  every  land- 
scape. Old  negroes  drive  or  lead  them  along  stump- 
lined  roads  ;  fat  piccaninies  shy  stones  at  their  patient 
noses  from  the  door-yards  of  lowly  wayside  cabins; 
gay  youths,  flannel -shirted  and  wide -belted,  snap 
long  whips  as  they  guide  teams  drawn  by  four  or  six 
animals  over  the  broad  prairies.  This  and  the  strange 
hieroglyphics  on  the  lines  of  freight-cars  we  pass, 
would  tell  us  we  were  far  from  home  even  without  the 
aid  of  any  other  moral  eccentricity.  We  are  pointed 
out  such  landmarks  as  where  the  cow-boys  raided 
upon  and  robbed  a  train,  where  Jesse  James  lies 
buried  in  state  in  his  mother's  door-yard,  or  where  the 
spring  floods  tore  their  path  of  desolation  through  a 
country  side.  At  one  place  we  passed  two  young 
Indians  holding  a  plough,  drawn  by  four  horses,  at  the 
end  cf  a  furrow  a  full  mile  long  across  one  unbroken 
field,  set  like  a  picture  of  Millet  against  a  sunset  sky. 
The  great,  bare,  desert-like  plain  of  Colorado  in  the 
parts  through  which  we  pass,  forms  the  dreariest  con- 
trast to  the  green  beauty  of  Kansas.  There  is  scarcely 
any  relief  to  the  desolate  outlook.  The  small  settle- 
ments are  of  the  most  primitive  description.  The  soil 


24  ON   THE   WING. 

looks  baked  and  caked  even  in  this  early  spring-time. 
A  few  far-apart  clumps  of  immature,  spiritless  trees 
dot  the  landscape  ;  an  occasional  small  stream  shows 
the  prints  of  countless  cattle-hoofs  on  its  muddy  banks, 
and  long  reaches  of  sage-brush  and  cactus  intersperse 
the  gray  country.  For  heaven's  sake,  beware  of  the 
cactus  !  In  the  gush  and  enthusiasm  of  first  acquain- 
tance, and  as  being  the  only  really  original  thing  you 
have  met  since  leaving  home,  you  will  be  tempted  at 
first  to  interview  it.  Take  the  elder  Weller's  advice  in 
regard  to  widows  —  "  do  n't."  It  looks  harmless  and 
inoffensive  enough ;  it  does  not  flaunt  its  thorny  ban- 
ner in  your  faces ;  it  clings  lowly  and  modestly  to  the 
soil  and  seems  to  shun  observation.  But  that  is  all  a 
dodge  to  rouse  your  curiosity.  It  is,  like  Bunthorne, 
an  accursed  thing.  The  most  subtly  fine  cambric 
needle  is  not  so  delicate  as  its  thread-like  spikes; 
the  most  highly  tempered  steel  crowbar  is  not  so 
strong.  Age  cannot  wither  nor  custom  stale  its  in- 
finite prickliness ;  and  a  glove  of  hippopotamus  hide 
will  not  save  you  from  its  hidden  sting.  As  a  speci- 
men of  Western  ingenuity  to  show  how  much  vicious- 
ness  can  be  put  into  a  small  parcel  it  takes  the  palm; 
it  is  the  infernal  machine  of  the  vegetable  kingdom. 

There  is  only  the  heavenly  air  and  jocund  sunshine 
to  mitigate  the  universal  blankness.  But  when  we 
stop  for  breakfast  at  the  little  station  of  La  Junta 
—  which  you  will  please  pronounce  La  Hoonta  —  so 
wonderful  is  the  atmosphere,  so  invigorating  each 
delicious  breath,  that  it  is  like  drinking  nectar,  and 
one  can  be  content  with  the  simple  boon  of  living. 


ON  THE  WING.  25 

This  queer  little  town,  which  was  scarcely  born  a  year 
ago,  and  is  still,  so  to  speak,  in  long  clothes,  is  an 
example  of  the  country's  rapidity  of  growth.  Already 
masons  are  at  work  on  blocks  of  stone  buildings  ;  new 
stores  on  the  main  avenue  are  filled  with  complete 
assortments  of  goods ;  neat  rows  of  small  wooden 
houses  mark  the  direction  of  a  dozen  different  streets  ; 
the  clean  little  station  dining-room  has  copies  of 
Raphael's  cherubs  and  lambrequins  of  embroidered 
towels,  and  there  is  pure  water  from  an  artesian  well. 
By  the  time  you  have  tasted  the  different  compounds 
which  have  been  offered  under  this  name  since  leaving 
home,  you  will  understand  the  full  force  of  this  last 
clause.  Even  after  a  good  strong  dose  of  old  cochitu- 
ate  it  may  be  appreciated. 

If,  in  places  like  this,  the  store  should  be  only  a 
shanty,  ten  feet  by  twelve,  do  not  let  your  untrained 
Eastern  instincts  lead  you  on  a  wrong  trail  of  con- 
tempt. The  owner  of  one  of  these  infinitesimal  trading 
posts  put  $550,000  in  bank  last  week  after  one  sale  of 
cattle  from  his  back  country  ranches, — the  owner  of 
another  could  draw  a  check  for  quarter  cf  a  million, 
and  present  it  to  you  without  letting  his  business 
suffer. 

The  people  look  more  like  the  soil  than  the  climate 
—  long,  lean  and  haggard, — a  sort  of  patient,  drag- 
gled air  about  the  women  —  an  unkempt  hairiness 
about  the  men.  It  seems  as  if  an  ounce  of  New 
England  grit  would  stiffen  even  back-bones  in  the 
country.  At  one  place  we  passed  in  the  gloaming, 
last  evening,  the  male  population  had  turned  out  en. 


26  ON   THE   WING. 

masse  at  the  station,  and  every  individual  creature 
stood  on  the  platform  with  the  same  leg  bent  at  the 
same  angle,  both  hands  deep  in  breeches-pocket,  pon- 
dering, with  the  same  dejected  wistfulness  through 
the  smoke  of  his  corn-cob  pipe,  the  volatile  spirits  of 
our  party.  They  were  too  far  gone  in  hopelessness 
even  to  smile  upon  us. 

On  country  roads,  in  small  settlements,  and  around 
station-houses,  one  is  constantly  meeting  the  different 
characters  of  the  modern  Western  drama.  The 
"Jedge  "  of  the  Danites  squirted  tobacco  juice  with 
artistic  nicety  within  a  hair's  breadth  of  my  head  at 
Emporia.  M'liss  looked  at  us  from  under  her  tangled 
hair  at  a  cabin  door  just  this  side  of  Las  Animas. 
"  My  Partner  "  walked  into  the  waiting-room  at  Flor- 
ence as  if  he  had  mistaken  it  for  the  theatre  dressing- 
room,  and  Kit  with  his  two  "  beats  "  have  repeated 
themselves  until  it  is  fully  time  to  take  a  farewell  per- 
formance. The  women  nearly  all  belong  to  one  of 
two  types :  lank,  thin-haired,  sad-eyed,  sun-bonneted 
and  calico-gowned,  while  they  are  still  drudges, — 
showily  dressed,  jerky,  self-complacent  and  montagued, 
when  they  wax  prosperous  and  idle. 

When  the  Spanish  Peaks  first  come  into  sight, 
snow-crowned  and  symmetrical,  with  a  long  range  be- 
hind clothed  in  that  far-away  blue  mistiness  which 
ever  makes  mountains  beautiful,  one  draws  a  long 
breath  of  surprise  and  delight.  From  some  unex- 
plained atmospheric  condition,  they  have  the  effect  of 
rising  from  a  deep  blue  sea,  which  is  a  cure  -for 
home-sick  eyes.  It  is  the  first  glimpse  of  the  natural 


ON   THE   WING.  2/ 

loveliness  of  Colorado.  Still  further,  beyond  the 
Cheyenne  Range,  the  white  head  of  Pike's  Peak  rises 
in  the  still,  luminous  air. 

There  is  no  object  in  nature  so  grandly  impres- 
sive as  a  range  of  snow-clad  summits.  The  dream  of 
my  life  had  been  to  see  Mont  Blanc,  —  Mont  Blanc 
with  the  blue  Swiss  lakes  asleep  at  its  foot,  the  fair 
Swiss  valleys  at  rest  on  its  bosom,  and  the  wonderful 
beauty  of  the  Swiss  landscape  throwing  its  soaring- 
majesty  into  fullest  relief.  I  wonder  now  whether, 
if  Fortune  is  ever  kind  enough  to  let  me  look  upon  itr 
some  thought  of  the  desolate  grandeur  of  these  its 
brother  monarchs,  rising  from  the  awful  calm  of  their 
grey  plains,  will  not  come  like  the  shadow  of  a  still 
more  imperial  state. 

Pueblo,  where  we  stop  to  change  cars  for  the  nar- 
row-guage  road  leading  to  Denver,  is  by  far  the  most 
characteristic  town  we  have  met  yet.  Any  of  the 
others  might  with  little  change  be  set  down  in  the 
early  stages  of  an  Eastern  settlement,  and  not  be  much 
out  of  place ;  but  here  the  acres  of  canvas  houses,  the 
groups  of  emigrant  wagons  and  prairie  schooners  cor- 
raled  under  trees  or  by  streams,  the  quantities  of  "dug- 
outs," where  a  door  surmounted  by  a  bit  of  thatched 
roof  gives  entrance  to  a  tenement  hollowed  out  of  the 
hill-side,  and  the  adobe  houses  —  built  Mexican 
fashion,  with  large  doors  and  windows  opening  on  an 
upper  balcony — stamp  it  as  belonging  to  a  strange 
world.  Up  vistas  opening  from  the  sandy  plains  one 
sees  broad  streets  flanked  by  long  rows  of  stone  and 
brick  buildings ;  three  or  four  railways  go  zigzaging 


28  ON   THE    WING. 

in  as  many  different  directions ;  the  suburbs  are  full 
of  large  manufacturing  interests  ;  it  is  swarming  with 
active  business  crowds;  yet  ten  minutes  —  five  min- 
utes—  after  you  have  left,  just  as  five  minutes  before 
reaching  it,  you  cannot  believe  that  anything  like 
civilization  is  within  a  day's  ride  of  the  solemn  grey 
sandy  desert,  with  its  clumps  of  sword-grass  and 
cactus. 

There  had  been  a  little  dread  in  looking  forward  to 
the  change  from  the  spacious  roominess  of  the  Pull- 
man to  the  contracted  quarters  of  the  narrower  cars ; 
but  to  our  great  relief  we  found  the  ease  of  the  reclin- 
ing chairs,  which  fill  the  carriages  of  this  road,  beyond 
anything  we  had  yet  used  for  comfort.  One  could 
sleep,  resting  horizontally  as  in  a  berth,  or  sit  erect,  at 
will,  by  simply  touching  a  spring  under  each  seat. 
There  was  another  unlooked-for  pleasure  in  the  total 
absence  of  dust  and  ashes  during  this  short  ride,  that, 
added  to  the  pleasant  looking  forward  to  a  few  days' 
complete  rest  at  Manitou,  made  the  hours  passed  in 
this  way  really  comfortable. 

We  had  long  ago  passed  the  point  where  self-respect 
received  any  shock  from  the  consciousness  of  dirty 
hands  and  faces  ;  we  could  keep  up  an  air  of  profound 
respectability  with  grimy  smooches  mingled  despair- 
ingly with  sunburn  and  tan  on  our  faces,  as  if  in 
mourning  for  the  original  virgin  white  which  was  once 
theirs.  We  had  broadened  into  the  kind  of  muscular 
Christianity  which  Thoreau  believed  belonged  to  true 
manhood,  and  could  retain  unconsciousness  of  self  and 
surround'ngs  under  the  most  desperate  straits.  This 


ON  THE  WING.  29 

is  one  of  the  liberal  uses  of  travelling.  Anyone  can  be 
charming  and  natural  and  vivacious  in  a  Worth  cos- 
tume and  a  Queen  Anne  boudoir :  but  to  be  fascinat- 
ing, and  merry,  and  altogether  lovely  in  a  travel- 
stained  dress,  a  crushed  hat  and  a  pair  of  torn  gloves, 
with  soot  at  the  roots  of  your  hair,  and  patches  too 
big  for  beauty-spots  over  all  the  visible  creature — as 
some  of  our  feminine  women  managed  —  that  is  to  be 
great  indeed ! 

The  quality  of  accommodations  provided  in  these 
far-away  wilds  has  been  a  constant  surprise ;  the 
fare  has  been  uniformly  good,  plentiful  and  well- 
cooked.  At  the  strangest  stopping-places,  where  one 
would  imagine  sandwiches  and  thick  coffee  to  be  the 
extent  of  resources,  we  have  found  a  variety  always 
abundant  and  often  luxurious.  How  they  manage 
such  a  quantity  of  fresh  supplies  would  be  perplex- 
ing, if  the  number  of  empty  tin  cans  about  each  new 
settlement  did  not  tell  the  tale.  We  are  beginning  to 
believe  the  tin  can,  and  its  contents,  the  pioneers  of 
civilization,  they  make  impossibilities  possible.  Butter 
and  coffee,  two  of  the  tests  of  good  living,  have  been 
almost  invariably  excellent;  the  exceptions,  strangely 
enough,  were  where  one  would  least  look  for  lapses. 
We  have  been  somewhat  sorry  not  to  find  more 
changes  in  the  bill  of  fare;  one  would  think  that  two 
or  three  thousand  miles  of  distance  might  inspire 
some  local  differences  of  menu,  but  steaks  and  chops, 
Saratoga  potatoes  and  broiled  kidneys,  duck  and  green 
peas,  ice  cream  and  apple-charlotte,  follow  you  in  pro- 
cession from  one  end  of  the  continent  to  the  other. 


30  ON   THE   WING. 

There  is  not  much  hardship  involved  in  travelling  in 
such  company ;  still  an  occasional  bit  of  Bohemianism 
in  the  shape  of  a  ragout  of  prairie  dog,  a  sirloin  of 
prairie  chicken,  an  olla  podrida  of  cactus  and  cream, 
or  a  fricassee  of  horned  toads,  would  be,  to  say  the 
least,  a  novelty.  There  can  be  nothing  extremely 
wrong  in  any  of  these,  when  giddy  Paris  dines  on 
horse-flesh  and  frogs'  legs.  Shall  AVC  pretend  to  higher 
standards  than  French  gourmets  ?  There  is  fortune 
yet  in  store  for  the  especial  Colorado  cuisine. 

There  was  a  pleasant  little  interlude  on  this  same 
narrow-gauge  road.  We  were  brought  to  a  stand  on 
a  side-track  for  half  an  hour  while  waiting  for  the 
express,  which  was  expressly  behind  time  at  this 
particular  point,  to  pass,  while  it  was  so  ordained  by 
fate  that  four  companies  of  United  States  cavalry,  en 
route  for  New  Mexico  and  the  Indian  troubles  —  going 
in  fact,  over  the  very  line  we  were  to  take  a  fortnight 
later  —  should  be  halted  on  the  same  siding.  We  learned 
a  good  deal  in  those  thirty  minutes  of  the  military  feel- 
ing in  regard  to  poor  Lo.  "  No  good  Indian  but  a 
dead  one,"  is  the  whole  case  in  a  nutshell.  From 
Commander-in-Chief  Sherman  to  his  youngest  drum- 
mer-boy their  voice  is  all  for  war,  and  that  a  war  of 
extermination.  It  is  plain  that  there  is  no  other  solu- 
tion than  that  of  force  for  the  present  crisis ;  but  this 
is  a  poor  substitute  for  a  substantial  settling  of  diffi- 
culties. There  never  was  and  never  will  be  a  greater 
muddle,  than  our  Government  have  made  over  the 
Indian  question.  These  men  were  bright,  brave- 
looking  fellows,  young  and  full  of  spirit,  armed  to  the 


ON   THE   WING.  31 

teeth,  with  a  dash  and  abandon  that  would  suit  a  dime 
novel  hero.  A  girdle  of  cartridges  in  a  wide  belt 
around  the  waist,  -  a  villainous  double-bladed  knife 
almost  as  broad  as  a  trowel,  a  Colt's  army  revolver,  a 
short  musket  or  rifle — I  am  not  yet  well  up  in  mili- 
tary tactics  —  and  a  clanging  sabre;  these  were  the 
accoutrements.  Add  if  you  please  a  suit  of  army 
blue,  a  broad  slouched  hat  and  a  ferocious  moustache, 
a  glorious  swagger  and  an  erect  carriage,  and  there 
is  your  soldier  complete.  They  evidently  make  light 
of  their  errand,  and  think  that  a  glimpse  of  a  uniform 
5s  enough  any  day  to  cause  a  stampede  among  the 
Apaches.  The  pretty  girl — pardon,  one  of  the  pretty 
girls — of  the  party  held  a  converzazione  with  a  young 
corporal  which  would  have  passed  for  a  flirtation  any- 
where else  in  the  world;  I  don't  know  the  proper 
name  here  on  the  plains.  We  gave  them  a  rousing 
Eastern  cheer,  to  which  the  big  boy  and  a  few  others 
added  a  Harvard  '"rah."  And  then  we  sank  again 
into  the  easy-chairs,  and  tired,  dirty,  but  happy,  turned 
our  faces  toward  "The  Garden  of  the  Gods." 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE    GARDEN    OF    THE    GODS. 

I  DO  not  wonder  that  the  Indians,  with  the  fine 
poetic  appreciation  which  makes  so  many  of 
their  names  eloquent,  should  have  called  this 
place  after  the  great,  mysterious,  unknown  God  whom 
they  worshiped — Manitou.  The  sentimental  civilized 
blunderer,  who  afterwards  modified  this  by  describing 
it  as  a  garden,  made  one  of  the  grand  mistakes  of  a 
lifetime.  The  impression  is  of  something  mighty, 
unreal  and  supernatural.  Of  the  gods  surely — but 
the  gods  of  the  Norse  Walhalla  in  some  of  their 
strange  outbursts  of  wild  rage  or  uncouth  playfulness. 
The  beauty-loving  divinities  of  Greece  and  Rome 
could  have  nothing  in  common  with  such  sublime 
awkwardness.  Jove's  ambrosial  curls  must  shake  in 
another  Olympia  than  this.  Weird  and  grotesque, 
but  solemn  and  awful  at  the  same  time,  as  if  one 
stood  on  the  confines  of  another  world,  and  soon  the 
veil  would  be  rent  which  divided  them.  Words  are 
worse  than  useless  to  attempt  such  a  picture.  Per- 
haps if  one  could  live  in  the  shadow  of  its  savage 
grandeur  for  months,  until  his  soul  were  permeated, 
language  would  begin  to  find  itself  flowing  in  proper 
channels,  but  in  the  first  stupor  of  astonishment  one 
must  only  hold  his  breath.  The  garden  itself,  the 


34 


ON   THE   WING. 


holy  of  holies  as  most  fancy,  is  not  so  overpowering- 
to  me  as  the  vast  outlying  wildness.  To  pass  in 
between  massive  portals  of  rock,  of  brilliant  terra 
cotta  red,  and  enter  on  a  plain  miles  in  extent,  covered 
in  all  directions  with  magnificent  isolated  masses  of 
the  same  striking  color,  each  lifting  itself  against  the 
wonderful  blue  of  a  Colorado  sky  with  a  sharpness  of 
outline'  that  would  shame  the  fine  cutting  of  an  etch- 
ing ;  to  find  the  ground  under  your  feet  over  the  whole 
immense  surface  carpeted  with  the  same  rich  tint, 
underlying  arabesques  of  green  and  gray,  where  grass 
and  mosses  have  crept;  to  come  upon  masses  of  pale 
velvety  gray  gypsum  set  now  and  again  as  if  to  make 
more  effective  by  contrast  the  deep  red  which  strikes 
the  dominant  chord  of  the  picture ;  and  always  as  you 
look  through  or  above  to  catch  the  stormy  billows  of 
the  giant  mountain  range  tossed  against  the  sky,  with 
the  regal  snow-crowned  massiveness  of  Pike's  Peak 
rising  over  all,  is  something  once  seen  never  to  be 
forgotten. 

Strange,  grotesque  shapes,  mammoth  caricatures  of 
animals,  clamber,  or  crouch,  or  spring  from  vantage 
points  hundreds  of  feet  in  air.  Here  a  battlemented 
wall  is  pierced  by  a  round  window ;  there  a  cluster  of 
slender  spires  lift  themselves ;  beyond  a  leaning  tower 
slants  through  the  blue  air,  or  a  cube  as  large  as  a 
dwelling-house  is  balanced  on  a  pivot-like  point  at  the 
base,  as  if  a  child's  strength  could  upset  it.  "  But 
nothin'  short  of  a'  earthquake  could  fetch  it,"  says 
the  "  Doc,"  our  driver,  a  fine  specimen  of  the  Western 
type,  keen,  cool  and  ruddy.  Imagine  all  this  scintil- 


ON   THE   WING.  35 

lant  with  color,  set  under  a  dazzling  sapphire  dome, 
with  the  silver  stems  and  delicate  frondage  of  young 
cottonwoods  in  one  space,  a  strong  young  hemlock 
lifting  green  symmetrical  arms  from  some  high  rocky 
cleft  in  another,  or  a  miniature  forest  of  dwarfed  ever- 
greens climbing  half  way  up  some  craggy  pile.  This 
can  be  told ;  but  the  massiveness  of  sky-piled  masonry, 
the  almost  infernal  mixture  of  grandeur  and  gro- 
tesqueness,  are  beyond  expression.  After  the  first 
few  moments  of  wild  exclamation  points  one  sinks 
into  an  awed  silence. 

By  and  by,  emerging  through  another  colossal  gate- 
way, and  following  a  narrow  road  built  over  some 
abandoned  Indian  trail,  one  enters  upon  the  confines 
of  the  most  romantic,  the  most  unique  of  all  human 
abiding  places,  —  Glen  Eyrie.  Fancy  this  wonderland 
we  have  been  desecrating  by  trying  to  describe,  as  a 
vestibule ;  then  an  avenue,  winding  for  a  mile  under 
trees,  with  a  new  vista  opening  at  each  instant.  At 
the  entrance  you  pass  a  little  lodge  or  schoolhouse  — 
a  sonnet  in  architecture,  if  one  may  so  express 
it — the  small  but  perfect  rendering  of  a  harmonious 
thought;  you  cross  and  recross  a  rushing,  tumbling 
mountain  brook  over  a  dozen  different  bridges,  some 
rustic,  some  of  masonry,  but  each  a  gem  in  design 
and  fitness ;  then  at  last,  after  the  mind  is  properly 
tuned,  as  it  were,  to  perfect  accord,  the  full  symphony 
bursts  upon  you.  In  the  shadow  of  the  eternal  rock, 
with  the  wonderful  background  of  mountain,  sur- 
rounded by  all  that  art  can  lend  nature,  is  this 
delicious  anachronism  of  a  Queen  Anne  house,  in 


36  ON  THE  WING. 

sage-green  and  deep-dull  red,  with  arched  balconies 
under  pointed  gables,  and  carved  projections  over 
mullioned  windows,  and  trellised  porches,  and  stained 
glass  loopholes,  and  an  avalanche  of  roofs.  It  is 
bewildering,  it  is  out  of  place :  it  is  naughty,  but  it's 
so  nice.  As  one  of  our  young  men  aptly  remarked, 
"  It  would  be  paradise  with  the  right  girl." 

For  a  single  bit  of  rugged  grandeur  the  Ute  Pass  is 
facile  princeps.  Government  has  widened  and  built 
up  the  old  Indian  trail,  and  now  a  narrow  wagon-road 
clings  like  a  thread  half  way  up  the  precipitous  moun- 
tain side,  a  jagged  perpendicular  wall  below,  with  a 
rapid  mountain  torrent  foaming  and  fretting  at  its 
foot,  a  jagged  perpendicular  wall  above,  with  pointed 
splintered  edges  climbing  skyward  in  one  bold  sweep. 
A  castle  is  perched  on  one  airy  height;  Gog  and 
Magog  look  at  each  other  from  two  prominent  opposite 
points  ;  profiles  and  grotesque  outlines  are  piled  upon 
each  climbing  spur  until  imagination  grows  palsied 
with  the  strain.  Obliged  to  follow  the  broken  line  of 
the  mountain,  the  path  curves  so  as  at  times  almost  to 
turn  upon  itself,  and  looking  back  as  your  horse  winds 
slowly  up  the  zigzag  passage,  you  are  lost  in  wonder 
and  dismay  at  the  temerity  which  brought  you  here. 
It  was  up  this  trail  that  the  Utes,  the  original  "big 
injuns"  of  the  country,  used  to  pass  to  and  from  their 
reservations  beyojid  the  mountain  and  their  happy 
hunting-grounds  in  the  plains  below.  It  needs  little 
fancy  to  see  them  laden  with  spoils  of  the  chase  or 
painted  for  the  war-path,  passing  in  single  file  through 
the  sombre  ravine  which  seems  theirs  by  right.  At 


ON  THE  WING.  37 

different  points  mineral  springs  of  iron,  of  sulphur,  or 
of  magnesia,  bubble  up  as  if  forced  from  a  siphon,  each 
impregnated  with  carbonic  acid  until  it  effervesces 
like  soda-water.  They  are  the  pleasantest  mineral 
waters  I  ever,  tasted;  the  usual  flavor  of  "warm 
flatirons "  being  very  well  masked  by  the  sharpness 
of  the  chemical  salts ;  and  you  will  never  know  what 
lemonade  means,  until  you  have  tried  it  sparkling 
with  this  natural  champagne. 

At  last  and  entirely,  you  realize  now  that  you  have 
reached  a  border  country.  The  old  Pike's  Peak  and 
later  Leadville  roads,  pass  in  front  of  the  hotel,  and 
at  any  moment  of  the  day  a  cavalcade  strange  to 
Eastern  eyes  may  be  seen  passing  by.  It  is  Buffalo 
Bill  and  his  train  of  Indian  scouts,  picturesque  in 
broad  sombrero  and  fringed  buckskin  leggins ;  or  a 
train  of  emigrant  wagons,  household  utensils  piled 
in  one,  stove-pipes  fastened  to  the  sides,  women 
and  children  gathered  in  the  others,  and  a  couple  of 
spare  horses,  or  sometimes  a  cow,  bringing  up  the 
rear.  A  moment  ago  a  long  line  of  pack  mules  with 
jingling  bells  trotted  past,  a  wild-looking  muleteer  in 
a  high  Mexican  saddle,  on  the  last,  snapping  his  long 
whip  with  a  crack  like  the  report  of  a  rifle ;  and  just 
now  a  dashing  young  rider  on  a  beautiful  gray  mare, 
with  spurs  on  the  heels  of  his  long  boots,  and  saddle- 
bags flapping  at  each  side  of  his  gallant  steed,  has 
flashed  up  the  broad  mountain  road  like  a  winged 
arrow.  The  people  ride  magnificently,  with  great 
daring  and  unconsciousness,  with  a  pose  as  if  they 
were  part  and  parcel  of  the  animal  they  bestride. 


38  ON  THE  WING. 

Even  young  girls  fly  past  with  an  abandon  that 
takes  one's  breath  away,  slim,  erect,  with  small  jockey 
hats  and  plain,  well-fitting  habits.  A  pretty  girl,  I 
believe,  is  never  so  pretty  as  when  on  horseback ;  but 
I  never  knew  before  how  much  her  dress  had  to  do 
with  her  loveliness.  The  long,  sweeping  train,  cover- 
ing the  flanks  of  the  flying  steed  with  its  graceful, 
pennon-like  curve,  throws  the  rounded  bust  and 
shapely  neck  and  head  into  good  relief  by  forming  an 
admirable  pendant,  and  hides  the  ungracious  bend  of 
the  knee  bent  over  the  pommel.  Some  of  our  own 
pretty  maids  rode  boldly  and  well,  but  the  awkward- 
ness of  the  short  travelling-dress  was  too  much  for 
even  their  native  grace  to  conquer,  and  I  was  glad  to 
see  them  dismount. 

The  horses  are  all  splendid  animals ;  the  men 
would  be,  if  they  took  as  much  care  of  themselves  as 
of  their  beasts.  The  village  blacksmith  is  a  real 
study :  he  walks  down  the  long,  red  road,  his  broad 
trousers  tucked  into  immense  cowhides,  a  wide  belt 
around  his  massive  waist,  a  flapping  brim  slouched 
over  his  brow,  and  that  swinging,  Indian  gait,  in  which 
all  motion  seems  to  spring  from  the  hips.  There  is  an 
air  of  jaunty  elegance  about  the  straight,  stalwart 
form  that  is  more  in  keeping  with  the  place  than  any- 
thing else  we  have  seen. 

We  took  two  days  for  a  trip  to  Denver,  and  from  it 
to  Black  Hawk  and  Central  City.     The  view  of  the 
mountain  range  which  one  gets  on  this  route  is  en- 
chantingly  beautiful.    Toward  the  end  the  road  crosses  * 
at  such  an  angle  that  you  see   a  long  line  of   peaks 


ON  THE   WIN<;.  39 

reaching  nearly  a  hundred  miles  across  the  gray  plain, 
and  lifting  snow-capped  summits  to  the  sky  till  they 
melt  in  the  far  distance.  Denver  itself  is  laid  out  on 
a  most  opulent  scale,  and  must  be  of  immense  interest 
to  business  men.  It  boasts  in  its  new  Opera  House, 
one  of  the  finest  theatres  in  the  United  States;  a 
little  gorgeous  in  tone,  in  accordance  with  Western 
ideas,  but  really  beautiful  and  of  fine  finish.  When 
you  see  in  the  windows  of  the  large  stores  the  latest 
fashion  in  plush  embroideries  and  Paris  fineries ; 
when  you  ride  for  two  mortal  hours  behind  a  pair  of 
swift  horses  and  only  pass  over  one  small  part  of  its 
large  territory  ;  when  you  hear  statistics  of  wealth  in 
banks,  mines,  smelting  works  and  manufactures  that 
quite  upset  your  slow  New  England  notions,  you  will 
begin  to  realize  what  this  wonderful  West  is.  "  East, 
you  talks  of  things,  but  here,  we  does  them,"  said  our 
driver,  with  the  naive  pride  of  a  man  who  knew  which 
was  the  better  part.  The  number  of  men  who  had 
made  their  pile,  gone  into  stocks;  got  cleaned  out, 
tried  again  and  struck  it  rich,  come  back  and  built  a 
palace,  or  a  church,  or  a  bank,  or  a  block  in  Denver, 
was  enough  to  make  one's  hair  stand  on  end.  And 
this  in  a  place  where  twenty  years  ago  the  redskin  and 
mountain  coyote  had  it  all  to  themselves. 

Think  of  having  to  come  to  this  city  of  the  plains 
to  find  the  first  waiter  who  ever  was  known  to  refuse 
a  tip  !  I  will  not  return  good  for  evil  by  telling  where 
he  is.  In  a  place  which  boasts  thirty  or  forty  hotels, 
some  of  them  with  270  sleeping-rooms,  you  may  take 
your  choice  and  find  him  out.  But  the  rara  avis 
belongs  in  Denver,  with  its  other  natural  curiosities. 


40  ON   THE    WING. 

I  am  tired  of  saying  that  this  is  a  wonderful 
country,  yet  nothing  else  relieves  one's  over-charged 
feelings.  A  few  miles  outside  the  city,  going  toward 
the  northwest,  is  the  entrance  to  Clear  Creek  Canon, 
in  which  for  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  the  train  follows 
the  bed  of  a  mountain  brook,  through  a  narrow  wind- 
ing opening  not  much  broader  than  the  width  of  the 
rail,  at  the  foot  of  precipices  from  900  to  1,200  feet 
high.  Each  spur  overlaps  the  other  so  desperately, 
that  the  track  actually  writhes  in  convulsions  around 
the  twisted  corners.  In  the  entire  fifteen  miles 
there  are  not  two  hundred  feet  of  straight  line,  and 
often,  sitting  in  the  central  compartment  of  a  train 
of  three  cars,  we  could  see  the  two  sturdy  puffing 
little  engines  in  front  and  the  rear  car  at  the  same 
time.  As  if  this  were  not  enough  to  set  one's  ideas 
topsy-turvy,  there  are  a  succession  of  awful  tableaux, 
where  nature  seems  inspired  to  her  grandest  efforts, 
and  where  a  frenzied  tumult  of  wild  grandeur  forces 
one  to  an  almost  painful  climax  of  attention.  The 
formation  of  rock,  which  tends,  all  through  the  parts 
of  Colorada  we  have  yet  seen,  toward  an  appearance 
of  buttresses  and  castled  crags,  runs  into  a  luxuriance 
of  wild  and  picturesque  forms  along  the  entire  route. 
Meantime,  you  are  climbing  unconsciously  at  a  rate 
which  brings  you  three  thousand  feet  higher  at  the 
Black  Hawk  station  than  where  you  started  four  hours 
before,  and  you  finish  by  an  immense  Z  up  the  last 
mountain-side,  which  leaves  you  in  Central  City  quite 
over  the  heads  of  the  whole  lower  world.  Anything 
so  wildly  trying  to  the  nerves  as  this  last  sudden  rise 


ON   THE  WING.  41 

I  never  felt  before.  Mt.  Washington  was  dreadful 
as  anything  could  be,  but  this  was  a  thousand  times 
worse  ;  for  here  there  was  not  even  a  grooved  wheel 
to  cling  to.  It  was  a  plain,  bare,  every-day  track, 
and  a  plain,  bare,  every-day  engine,  without  cogs  or 
cranks,  or  any  other  unusual  attachment,  to  brace  up 
a  poor  lone,  lorn  woman's  faith.  When  we  finally 
stopped  at  the  little  station,  it  was  with  a:  sense  of 
relief  which  culminated  in  one  deep-concerted  sigh. 
I  would  not  have  gone  down  that  incline  again,  for 
all  the  gold  in  the  Bobtail  mine  over  which  we  were 
running.  There  was  something  unholy  in  tempting 
Providence  so.  And  if  we  did  lose  our  rubbers  in 
climbing  down  the  rocky  street  through  the  little 
mining  camp,  on  our  way  to  meet  the  train  at  the 
lower  level,  whose  business  is  it  but  our  own?  At 
least  we  saved  peace  of  mind;  and  what  is  temporal 
loss  to  spiritual  comfort  ? 

There  were  two  days  of  heavenly  weather,  after  our 
return  to  Manitou,  and,  after  that,  the  deluge.  They 
told  us  there  was  no  wet  weather  in  Colorado,  except 
at  certain  seasons.  It  is  true;  it  never  rains ;  but  it 
pours  —  sometimes.  O  how  it  pours !  Yet  so  heavenly 
beautiful  is  the  delicious  clearness  of  the  atmosphere 
that  unless  we  felt  or  heard  it  we  would  absolutely 
not  have  known  there  was  any  rain  falling,  when  it 
was  pouring  from  above  like  the  sluices  of  a  mill. 
The  soft  and  lambent  air  was  as  fresh  and  bright  as 
sunshine  would  have  made  it  in  other  places.  Driv- 
ing through  Colorado  Springs  one  day,  that  loveliest 
village  of  the  plain,  with  the  prairie  reaching  to  the 


42  ON  THE   WING. 

horizon  on  one  side,  and  the  climbing  mountain  range 
piercing  heaven  at  the  other,  we  had  a  fascinating 
experience  of  the  swift  changes  which  belong  to  these 
elevated  regions.  A  low  cloud  of  pale  luminous  gray 
hid  the  soaring  peaks  from  sight,  and  a  shadow  rested 
on  the  nearer  side  so  heavily,  that  it  was  stained 
to  deep  purple  blackness.  Suddenly,  in  one  spoty 
the  whelming  clouds  drifted  apart,  and  in  the  jagged 
opening  a  range  of  snowy  tops  kissed  the  blue  sky,. 
glowing  with  a  burst  of  color  which  would  gladden 
the  saddest  heart.  I  do  not  wonder  that  H.  H.  fell  in 
love  with  this  beautiful  place,  and  lavished  the  full 
wealth  of  her  delightful  power  in  .singing  its  praises. 
It  would  bankrupt  a  less-gifted  nature  even  to  paint 
its  glories,  much  less  be  their  interpreter.  But  we 
found  the  old  story  true,  that  no  one  is  a  prophet 
among  his  own  people.  Our  hackman  couldn't  point 
out  her  house ;  he  "  allowed  it  was  the  cottage  up 
thar,  but  didn't  know  for  sure."  Another  time,  sitting 
by  my  window  at  early  morning,  while  earth  seemed 
wrapped  in  the  soft  haze  of  dreamland,  of  a  sudden 
the  curtain  of  cloud  began  to  roll  from  the  windows 
of  the  deep,  intense  heaven  of  blue  above  it,  and  the 
poetry  of  sunshine  —  the  sunshine  of  Colorado  — 
blazed  with  golden  glory  over  the  world. 


CHAPTER   V. 

IT  was  during  the  first  day  at  Manitou  that  we 
made  acquaintance  with  the  burros.  It  is  the 
nightingale  of  Colorado  ;  its  range  of  voice  is 
limited,  consisting  indeed  of  only  two  notes;  but  the 
amount  of  eloquence,  the  superb  quality,  the  deep 
resonance  and  flexible  sinuosity  which  can  be  thrown 
by  this  natural  musician  into  such  a  small  compass, 
is,  like  everything  else  here,  tremendous.  As  he 
lopes  down  the  village  street,  the  larboard  ear  in  air 
while  the  starboard  droops  limply,  the  long  tapir-like 
nose  quivering  with  the  mighty  volume  of  sound 
which  is  pouring  through  it,  the  sloping  Chinese  eyes 
looking  at  you  sideways  with  the  lack-lustre  expres- 
sion of  the  race,  and  an  artistic  kick  thrown  in 
occasionally  to  produce  the  tremolo  which  adds  the 
last  touch  of  grace  to  the  singing  voice,  you  are 
overwhelmed.  When  its  Scriptural  namesake  spoke 
to  Balaam,  he  was  never  more  surprised. 

We  had  a  vague  impression  that  on  striking  these 
high  altitudes  the  ills  which  flesh  is  heir  to  would 
vanish;  but  there  is,  alas  !  no  royal  road  to  health. 
Even  in  the  upper  atmosphere  of  this  rarer,  purer 
world,  there  are  such  things  as  pull-backs.  Aside 
from  the  difficulty  of  breathing  into  which  the  first 
plunge  dipped  most  of  the  party,  it  seemed  for  a  time 


44  ON  THE  WING. 

to  disarrange  everything  connected  with  throat   and 
lungs,  so  that 

"Those  now  coughed  who  never  coughed  before, 
And  those  who  always  coughed  now  coughed  the  more." 

For  a  few  days  it  sounded  like  an  out-of-door  clinic 
for  throat  diseases.  B/ut  at  the  same  time  there  was 
an  invigoration,  a  plenary  indulgence  of  oxygen  in 
every  breath,  that  eased  the  most  profound  fatigue  in 
a  few  minutes.  After  a  walk  or  a  climb  that  would 
have  made  your  bones  ache  for  days  on  that  beloved 
stern  and  rock-bound  coast  at  home,  you  would  be  up 
and  at  it  again  in  an  hour's  time  as  fresh  as  a  daisy. 
'  But  the  tendency  to  bronchial  trouble  placed  us  all  at 
a  disadvantage.  The  wet  weather  which  came,  and 
I  believe  went,  with  us,  most  unusual  at  this  time  of 
year,  may  have  had  something  to  do  with  it ;  but  the 
altitude  was  the  principal  factor.  When  you  live  and 
move  in  the  clouds  around  the  head  of  Mt.  Washing- 
ton, or  rather  above  them,  you  must  expect  to  pay  the 
piper.  But  if  we  had  had  only  pleasant  weather, 
would  we  have  known  the  fascination  of  those  cloud 
effects  up  the  billowy  mountain  sides  ?  Would  we 
have  seen  them  under  every  possible  variation,  from 
thunder  to  snow,  from  moonlight  to  inky  blackness  ? 
When  I  looked  out  that  last  morning,  would  the  old 
moon  have  been  sailing  her  silver  boat  through  the 
blue  zenith,  while  pale,  rosy  flames  were  springing 
from  the  horizon  upward,  touching  the  snowy  moun- 
tain peaks  with  the  real  Alpine  glow?  Once,  in  a 
ramble  to  the  Cave  of  the  Winds,  we  were  weather- 
bound for  an  hour  in  a  lime-burner's  hut  by  the  side 


ON   THE   WING.  45 

of  the  trail,  while  a  furious  hail-storm  rolled  through 
the  canon,  and  five  minutes  after  the  majestic  columns 
in  the  Temple  of  Isis,  a  thousand  feet  above  our 
heads,  were  blazing  and  glowing,  as  if  under  some 
reflected  shower  of  sunshine.  The  flying  clouds  lifted 
here  and  there,  from  peaks  and  battlements ;  the  in- 
spired air  tingled  in  every  vein;  the  heavenly  glow 
and  radiance  flashed  into  your  soul, — and  ten  minutes 
after  you  were  in  the  midst  of  another  swift  storm  of 
hail,  or  snow,  or  rain,  as  if  sunshine  never  belonged 
to  the  world.  But  little  we  recked  in  the  safe  shelter 
of  the  wayside  cabin  while  the  fierce  fantasy  of 
clouds  worked  its  wild  way  in  the  narrow  gorge  above, 
and,  framed  in  the  ruined  lime-kiln  opposite,  our 
picturesque  young  man,  never  so  killing  before,  in  full 
mountain  suit  of  blouse  and  knickerbocker,  stood 
like  a  picture  of  a  blonde  Tyrolese  jager  in  the  ruined 
arch.  It  was  not  unusual  through  these  days  to  have 
four  alternate  storms  in  the  course  of  a  single  hour, 
with  clear  skies  between ;  but,  owing  to  the  brilliant 
rarity  of  the  atmosphere,  we  were  never  sure  it  was 
raining,  until  we  either  felt  or  actually  saw  it.  And 
this  when  it  was  pouring  a  ton  to  the  square  incht 
Another  most  strange  fact  was  that  the  peculiar 
formation  of  the  soil  prevented  any  formation  of  mud, 
the  roads  hardening  and  deepening  in  color,  till  they 
looked  as  if  laid  in  red  cement.  These  were  both 
novel  features  to  those  who  were  used  to  the  dreary 
footing,  after  a  four-days'  rain  in  Boston. 

It  was  here  for  the  first  time  we  saw  the  magpie,  a 
large  bird  in  half-mourning,  alternate  black  and  white* 


46  ON   THE   WING. 

The  Colorado  blue-bird,  an  exquisite  little  creature, 
with  a  bit  of  the  deep  sky  meshed  in  his  wings, 
favored  us  several  times  in  the  Garden  of  the  Gods ; 
but  we  were  too  early,  really,  to  see  or  know  anything 
of  the  birds  of  the  country. 

The  Beebee  House  proved  to  be  one  of  the 
cleanest,  tidiest  and  most  home-like  we  had  seen  yet. 
Its  beds  were  perfection;  its  rooms  clean  and  tidy; 
its  hotel-clerk  a  model  for  his  kind  in  amiability  and 
helpfulness,  and  its  open  fireplace,  full  of  blazing  logs 
in  each  of  the  large  parlors,  cheer  and  comfort  itself. 
But  it  owned  a  corps  of  waiters  who  ought  to  be 
broken  in  before  they  were  allowed  to  swing  things 
in  such  a  brazenly,  reckless  fashion.  They  had  a 
Rocky  Mountain  style  of  flinging  plates  and  dishes, 
so  that  one  never  knew  whether  they  were  aimed  at 
one's  head  or  the  table,  and  a  jaunty  way  of  tipping 
over  full  soup-plates  and  broiled  steak,  until  you  were 
in  tremulous  uncertainty  as  to  whether  dinner  would 
be  an  internal  or  external  application.  ,  It  was  high 
art,  in  its  way,  because  they  never  actually  allowed 
anything  to  slop  over,  but  of  a  kind  which  way-worn 
travellers  could  well  dispense  with. 

The  men  were  invariably  polite  and  well-behaved 
to  a  degree  that  struck  one  in  sharp  contrast  to  their 
uncared-for  appearance.  We  never  stepped  into  an 
elevator  in  any  house,  from  the  time  of  leaving 
Chicago,  without  having  every  hat  lifted  until  we  left 
it  again.  A  group  of  rough,  unkempt  miners  would 
step  into  the  mud  on  a  bad  crossing,  in  order  that 
your  feet  might  pass  dry-shod ;  and  the  moment  they 


ON   THE   WING.  47 

were  addressed  by  a  woman,  their  pipes  were  taken 
from  the  mouth.  In  Central  City,  that  queer  little 
above-the-world  hole  in  the  clouds,  one  of  our  party 
entered  a  small  grocery  to  try  and  get  her  muddy 
boots  cleansed.  The  proprietor  not  only  provided  the 
means,  but  v/anted  to  do  all  necessary  work  himself, 
and  finally  left  his  place  uncared  for,  while  he  took  us 
some  distance  up  the  street  to  show  where  we  would 
find  planks  properly  laid  to  avoid  the  mud.  One 
somehow  hardly  looks  for  this  in  situations  where 
the  people  show  themselves  so  sublimely  careless  in 
small  matters. 

It  was  here  at  Manitou  that  we  saw  the  original  of 
that  wonder-painting  cf  the  Mountain  of  the  Holy 
Cross,  by  Thomas  Moran.  The  English  gentleman 
who  has  the  happiness  cf  owning  it  had  the  rare  good 
taste  to  understand  that  everything  else  in  his  home 
should  be  subordinate  to  this  exquisite  centre-piece, 
so  that  the  house  is  really  only  the  setting  for  the 
picture.  The  room  in  which  you  find  it  opens  from 
the  outer  air,  and  is  made  harmoniously  beautiful  in 
every  way.  At  one  side  a  great  alcove,  lighted  at  the 
top,  throws  all  the  sunshine  upon  the  canvas,  while 
a  gem  of  a  conservatory,  hung  with  heavy  festoons 
cf  passion-vines,  gorgeous  in  the  greatest  wealth  of 
buds  and  blossoms,  in.  deep-red  color,  opens  fr.om 
the  opposite  corner.  The  design  cf  the  house  is  of 
the  English  cottage  order,  surrounded  by  a  lustrous 
green  lawn,  with  a  rapid -roaring  brook  tumbling 
through  and  coming  to  the  foreground  under  a  rustic 


48  ON   THE   WING. 

bridge.  One  has  only  to  step  from  the  wonderwork 
inside  to  the  wonderwork  without,  and  each  is  worthy 
of  the  other. 

We  left  this  lovely  spot  with  real  regret.  What  a 
golden  summer  one  might  pass  in  that  happy  valley 
among  its  kindly  and  simple  people,  if  fashion  did  not 
rush  in  with  "the  season"  to  spoil  it  all.  It  seems 
to  have  more  than  its  share  of  the  world's  blessing. 
Such  air,  such  light,  such  majesty  and  such  sweet- 
ness, are  more  than  belong  to  any  one  spot.  Not 
adieu,  but  au  revoir,  to  the  Garden  of  the  Gods ! 

The  moment  one  leaves  Colorado  Springs  again  on 
the  way  to  Pueblo,  the  same  dreadfully  uninteresting 
country,  with  the  poor,  tiny  houses  that  seem  so  bare 
of  all  life's  comforts,  appears.'  If  people  had  souls 
enough  to  appreciate  the  air  and  light  which  are  so 
lavishly  showered  upon  them,  there  might  be  some 
mitigation  of  the  poverty  of  living,  kith  and  kin,  in  a 
bare  board  shanty  of  one  or  two  rooms  opening  di- 
rectly on  the  dry  desert  of  the  outer  world ;  but  I  am 
afraid  even  this  little  leaven  hardly  comes  to  leaven 
the  great  lump  of  poverty. 

Beyond  Pueblo  the  Arkansas  widens  into  a  rather 
sluggish,  muddy  stream,  pretty  in  nothing  except  its 
windings  and  the  delicate  freshness  of  cottonwoods 
here  and  there  on  its  banks,  which  are  always  newly 
lovely  to  us.  It  has,  besides,  for  many  miles,  a  fringe 
of  fortifications  in  wonderful  perfection,  some  in  per- 
fect cap-a-pie  fighting  order,  some  ruined  and  broken, 
but  altogether  one  of  the  most  picturesque  and  com- 


ON  THE   WING.  49 

plete  pieces  of  nature's  workmanship  we  have  met 
yet.  It  seems  utterly  impossible  to  believe  that  the 
walls  and  battlements,  which  appear  of  such  solid 
masonry,  should  not  have  been  laid  \vith  hands,  or 
that  the  eye  of  some  human  architect  did  not  direct 
the  soaring  grace  of  those  lofty  towers,  or  the  solemn 
strength  of  these  long  lines  of. ramparts.  Every- 
where the  great  gray  plains,  stretching  to  right  and 
left  with  sombre  deadness  of  color;  everywhere  the 
poor*  low  houses  of  adobe  or  logs,  which  are  part 
and  parcel  of  the  universal  monotony !  The  little 
dining-stations  show  in  their  confusion  and  bustle  the 
want  of  proper  understanding  of  the  needs  of  the 
travelling  public ;  still  they  furnish  plentiful  meals 
and  give  a  fair  variety.  We  have  been  somewhat 
spoiled  by  the  lavish  luxury  of  cuisine  which  the 
larger  hotels  have  given  us ;  but  the  healthy  appetite 
which  belongs  of  right  to  every  honest  traveller, 
stands  us  in  good  stead,  and  the  blessed  boon  which 
we  enjoy,  of  plenty  of  time,  even  for  toothpicks,  makes 
the  plainest  bread  and  meat  enjoyable.  At  first  we 
were  absurdly  conscious  of  doing  an  unusual  thing 
every  time  we  tore  off  a  coupon ;  now  we  are  begin- 
ning to  imagine  what  a  delight  it  would  be  if  we  could 
meet  every  need  of  life  in  the  same  way,  by  offering  a 
ticket  to  buy  it  off. 

Placer  is  down  in  our  note-books  as  being  the  first 
spot  from  which  can  be  seen  the  Sierra  Blanca,  the 
highest  peak  in  Colorado,  and  second  highest  in  the 
United  States.  It  is  also  down  in  my  personal  mem- 
ory for  having  the  following  unique  and  extremely 


50  ON   THE   WING. 

Western  tradition,  as  a  grace   before  meat,  over  the 
dining-room  door:  — 

"  In  God  we  trust; 
The  rest  must  pay  cash. 
To  trust  is  to  bust,  — 
To  bust  is  Hell  ! 

(  TRUST ! 
NO  J*BUST! — BEAR  THIS  IN  MIND!" 

/  HELL! 

We  saw  at  Canon  City,  just  as  the  mountains  began 
to  draw  together  again  for  the  Grand  Canon  of  the 
Arkansas,  a  gang  of  convicts  at  work  on  the  road 
leading  through  the  valley.  The  State  penitentiary  is 
located  here,  and  convict  labor  does  much  in  the 
way  of  building  and  opening  new  thoroughfares.  A 
gaunt  figure  sat  at  each  end  with  loaded  rifle  cocked 
and  aimed  at  the  group  of  men  between.  In  another 
moment  we  had  whirled  between  rocky  walls  which 
hid  the  sinister  picture,  but  its  harsh  effect  lived 
longer. 

Of  the  Canon  itself,  I  would  rather  say  not  one 
word,  but  bow  the  head  in  reverent  silence  before  this 
handiwork  of  the  Lord.  But  for  the  sake  of  the  dear 
eyes  at  home  which  may  never  look  upon  it,  and 
which  still  love  to  follow  the  steps  that  have  wandered 
so  far  from  them,  I  must  try  to  speak.  Those  who 
have  looked  upon  its  awful  grandeur  will  realize  the 
powerlessness  of  description.  The  railroad  runs 
through  a  deep,  narrow  passage  at  the  base  of  oppos- 
ing and  overlapping  spurs  of  mountains,  always  fol- 
lowing the  tortuous  windings  of  the  stream,  which 
flows  between  with  the  same  wild  swiftness  which 


ON   THE    WING.  51 

made  Clear  Creek  Canon  so  dreadful  to  weak  nerves. 
Grown  more  familiar  now,  we  scarcely  notice  this 
headlong  rush  as  cause  for  dismay;  but  we  cannot 
grow  familiar  with  the  massive  wildness  of  the  over- 
hanging cliffs  above.  Gradually  the  sweeping  peaks 
rise  higher ;  the  rushing  river  grows  deeper  and  louder ; 
its  color  changes  to  a  perfect  raw  sienna,  which  makes 
a  delightful  warm  tint  in  the  foreground.  The  soaring 
mountains  leap  more  boldly  skyward,  till  they  seem  to 
scale  the  very  ramparts  of  heaven,  cleft  through  their 
centre  of  everlasting  rock  by  some  stupendous  power 
we  can  only  guess  at.  Whatever  is  grandest  and 
wildest  in  nature,  pours  itself  with  prodigious  lavish- 
ness  above  and  around,  until,  as  the  train  thunders 
upon  a  hanging  bridge  which  spans  a  deep  abyss,  the 
sense  of  might  and  awfulness  is  so  heavy  on  the  soul, 
that  it  results  in  a  sense  of  real  physical  oppression. 
The  roaring  of  the  rapids,  intensified  by  precipices 
which  lift  themselves  at  each  side  ;  the  solemn  shadow 
thrown  even  at  noonday  from  those  mighty  ledges ; 
the  stupendous  majesty  which  sweeps  you  from  all 
familiar  things  and  sets  you  face  to  face  with  the 
Creator,  combine  to  impress  an  unearthly  feeling  of 
loneliness  and  awe  which  remains  stamped  with  the 
memory  of  the  place  forever.  In  the  bit  of  dazzling 
blue  that  showed  itself  over  the  high  fortress  like 
crags,  so  high  that  eyes,  as  well  as  spirit,  had  to  soar 
to  reach  their  summits,  two  immense  eagles  went 
sweeping  in  airy  circles,  till  they  disappeared  behind 
the  topmost  peak  of  all.  It  was  the  only  sign  of  life 
which  would  not  have  been  out  of  harmony  with  the 


52  ON   THE  WING. 

solemnity  of  the  spot.  A  sombre  veiling  of  firs 
covered  the  lower  levels  of  the  mountains ;  but  above, 
only  the  bare,  barren  rock  rose  with  splintered  edges 
into  pinnacles  and  domes,  stained  here  and  there  with 
blackness  of  age,  riven  by  thunder-bolts,  or  jeweled 
with  sparkling  spray  of  leaping  waterfalls.  Even  after 
passing  this  culminating  point  there  was  no  anti- 
climax. As  the  road  and  river-bed  widen,  the  heights 
open  here  and  there,  showing  still  other  peaks  beyond, 
but  all  yet  dark  and  awful.  By-and-by  a  single  tree,  or 
a  group  of  cottonwoods,  throw  their  fleecy,  silver- 
stemmed  branches  like  a  point  of  light  against  the 
grim  background,  or  a  single  snow-powdered  peak  of 
the  Sangre  de  Cristo  rises  far  away.  Constantly 
changing  as  the  whirling  road  flies  east  or  west,  you 
get  by  instants  some  new  picture,  until  at  last,  through 
a  sudden  cleft,  the  whole  beautiful  sunny  range  rises 
against  the  horizon,  one  rounded,  dazzling  peak 
superbly  prominent  in  the  centre,  —  "clothed  in  white 
samite,  mystic,  wonderful."  Just  as  this  glorious 
vision  bursts  upon  your  raptured  sight,  there  rushes 
down  through  the  centre  of  a  gorge  in  the  rocky 
chain,  as  sombre  as  blackened  trunks  of  dead  trees 
and  funereal  firs  can  make  it,  a  cascade,  a  torrent,  a 
perfect  avalanche  of  tender  glowing  green,  where  a 
thick  belt  of  young  trees  have  followed  the  windings 
of  the  mountain-side  into  the  open  space  below.  For 
hours  there  is  nothing  to  break  the  strain  produced 
by  this  immense  manifestation  of  sublimity:  you  are 
obliged  to  sit  in  awed  and  awful  silence  while  it  pours 
in  upon  overwrought  nerves  and  brain,  without,  as 


ON   THE   WING.  53 

one  of  the  party  aptly  remarked,  even  being  able  to 
dam  it  for  awhile  and  take  a  rest. 

Two  hours  after  leaving  Salida,  at  the  end  of  this 
over-exciting  trip,  we  were  hurled  into  another,  which 
was,  if  such  a  thing  could  be,  even  more  gloriously 
terrible.  Up  the  great  Continental  Divide,*  the  rail- 
road clambers  five  thousand  feet  in  a  distance  of 
twenty-eight  miles,  to  Marshall's  Pass,  bearing  you 
from  the  summer  lands  below,  to  the  region  of  eternal 
ice  and  snow  above.  As  the  crow  flies,  the  distance 
travelled  to  the  summit  would  not  be  over  eight  miles ;. 
the  others  are  taken  up  in  devious  twistings  and  wind- 
ings backward  and  forward  over  the  mountain.  In 
the  course  of  the  route,  you  pass  over  giddy  trestles, 
on  the  brink  of  narrow  precipices,  by  the  side  of 
weighty,  overhanging  cliffs,  or  curving  edges  of  black 
ravines,  rising  ever  higher  and  higher,  until  the  sight 
of  the  dizzy,  swooping  valleys  make  you  catch  breath 
hard,  and  you  would  gladly  weigh  a  thousand  tons,  so 
as  to  have  some  effect  in  balancing  the  swaying  train 
which  so  airily  spins  above  them.  It  was  toward 
evening,  and  we  followed  the  light  upward  from  one 
level  to  another,  until  just  at  sunset  we  emerged  on  a 
scene  of  such  unearthly  beauty  as  those  who  had  the 
blessed  fortune  of  seeing,  will  never  forget.  Turning 

*  It  may  be  well  here  to  define  some  of  the  terms  used  in  connection 
with  Western  mountain  scenery,  —  Mesa :  a  high  table-land  or  plain 
between  mountains;  Divide:  a  mountain  chain  separating  two  sets  of 
table-lands ;  the  Continental  Divide,  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
slopes ;  Canon :  a  passage  between  mountains,  winding  through  the 
lowest  level;  Pass:  a  trail  built  on  the  mountain-side  through  a  Canon* 
Gorge :  the  wildest  and  most  precipitous  part  of  a  Canon. 


54  °N  THE  WING. 

a  sharp  spur  of  the  mountain,  we  spun  over  a  trestle- 
bridge,  which  took  a  curve,  a  climb,  and  a  bound 
across  a  deep  gorge  all  at  once ;  and  on  the  instant 
the  sun  shone  on  a  line  of  exquisite  peaks  melting 
away  in  the  dim  horizon,  their  snowy  summits  trans- 
figured with  the  last  rosy  flush  of  dying  day.  Far 
below,  purple  night  shadows  were  gathering  already 
in  deep  ravines  and  narrow  passes  ;  while  above,  the 
sky  was  still  opalescent  with  the  faint,  clear  tints 
which  make  twilight  linger  so  long  in  this  rare  atmos- 
phere. O,  heavenly  heights,  fair  Mountains  of  the 
Snow !  will  we  ever  again  look  upon  anything  so  won- 
derfui^until  we  cross  the  border-land  to  the  Blessed 
Country,  and  through  the  gates  ajar  see  rismg  in  the 
radiant  air  the  shining  hills  of  Paradise  ! 

In  the  Veta  Pass,  which  we  crossed  next  day,  the 
same  manifestations  of  grandeur  and  majesty  repeated 
themselves.  In  each  case,  nearly  a  day  spent  in 
crossing  the  barren  plains  prepares  one  for  the  effect 
to  be  produced,  and  gives  the  sharpness  of  contrast 
to  the  two  opposing  scenes.  A  mirage,  which  lasted 
for  some  hours,  gave  the  idea  of  blue  water  at  the 
base  of  a  mountain-chain  on  the  left,  which  had  an 
exquisite  effect  in  the  distance.  If  this  country  only 
had  lakes,  it  would  be  too  dangerously  near  perfec- 
tion. The  mule-shoe  curve,  which  sweeps  up  to  the 
higher  levels  on  this  new  trail,  is  another  blood- 
curdling experience ;  but  so  sure  had  we  grown  by 
this  time  of  the  security  of  our  running-gear,  that  we 
rode  through  thirty  or  forty  miles  in  the  cab  of  the 
engine.  The  effect  of  coming  in  this  way  into  the 


ON   THE   WING.  55 

•mysteries  of  Toltec  Gorge  is,  to  say  the  least,  thrill- 
ing. You  have  something  of  the  glow  of  an  explorer 
who  discovers  for  the  first  time  some  new  and  beauti- 
ful land.  I  do  not  wonder  any  longer,  that,  simply 
from  the  love  of  this  excitement,  men  should  be  found 
willing  to  brave  danger  of  suffering  and  death, 
uplifted  beyond  ordinary  human  endurance  for  the 
sake  of  the  glow  which  comes  when  the  secret  of 
some  hitherto  unknown  spot  lies  unlocked  before 
them.  There  is  one  superb  moment  here,  when  the 
engine,  after  poising  like  a  bird  on  the  extreme  .edge 
of  a  sheer  precipice  one  thousand  seven  hundred'  feet 
deep,  turns  with  a  swift  leap  and  buries  itself  with  a 
noise  like  ten  thousand  devils  in  the  blackness  of  a 
tunnel,  from  which  it  emerges  to  sweep  into  the  sun- 
light, hanging  to  the  face  of  the  cliff  on  top  of  an 
awful  gorge,  whose  shattered  sides  reach  the  tumbling 
river  below.  In  another  place  it  passes  what  appears 
like  the  ruins  of  a  heathen  temple,  its  gigantic  idols 
still  erect  on  their  pedestals,  looking  with  hideous 
grotesqueness  at  the  temerity  which  found  them  out. 
The  formation  of  this  group  of  rocks  is  not  dissimilar 
to  that  in  the  Garden  of  the  Gods,  except  in  color. 

Our  audacity  to  do  and  dare  grew  with  what  it  fed 
on ;  after  riding  inside  the  engine,  we  tried  riding 
outside  of  it.  I  cannot  account  for  the  change  which 
made  this  possible  in  a  couple  of  not  usually  heroic 
women.  Perhaps  the  stupendous  boldness  which  per- 
meated Nature,  the  magnificent  dash  which  entered 
into  all  she  planned  and  did,  the  very  audacity  of  her 
conceptions,  may  have  unconsciously  raised  our  moral 


56  ON  THE   WING. 

standard  and  strung  us  to  a  pitch  that  made  us 
ready  for  any  adventure.  Be  this  as  it  may,  we  rode 
on  the  cow-catcher  from  the  Toltec  Gorge  down  to 
Antonita,  twenty  miles  away;  and  when  you  have 
ridden  on  a  cow-catcher,  down  a  precipitous,  mighty 
mountain-side,  through  gorges  and  tunnels,  under 
ledges  and  crags,  around  sweeping  curves  that  spin 
dizzily  through  the  air,  while  ten  feet  before  you  all 
visible  foothold  seems  to  end,  and  the  next  bound 
will  launch  you  into  space, — when  you  have  done  this, 
you  have  received  your  baptism  of  fire  so  far  as 
adventure  is  concerned.  You  begin  then  to  believe  in 
the  Eternal  Fates  ;  you  can  afford  for  the  rest  of  your 
life  to  make  a  retrousse*  nose  at  people  who  have 
only  known  common-place  experiences.  The  thrill  of 
exultation  which  this  wild  flight  through  the  air  pro- 
duced, especially  as  night  drew  on,  and  only  the 
meteoric  glare  oi  the  head-light  dissipated  the  pro- 
found shadows  through  which  we  passed ;  the  tremen- 
dous force  of  the  power  behind  us,  all  noise  and 
fury,  contrasted  with  the  tranquil  calm  of  the  night, 
serene  and  beautiful,  with  one  pure  evening  star 
gleaming  in  the  clear  sky,  made  a  whirl  of  emotion 
which  was  nearer  intoxication  than  anything  else. 
When  we  finally  were  taken  from  our  perch  and 
brought  into  the  lighted  car,  half  dazed  and  tremulous 
from  the  unconscious  strain,  it  was  as  I  imagine  it 
must  be,  after  drinking  champagne,  while  exhilaration 
has  still  the  upper  hand  of  shakiness.  After  this, 
anything  short  of  shooting  up  a  mountain  at  an  angle 
of  forty-five  degrees  will  be  a  mere  bagatelle.  The 


ON   THE   WING.  57 

future  hides  what  the  Yo  Semite  holds  in  store ;  but 
it  is  no  use  to  tell  us  it  will  ever  bring  forth  anything 
comparable  to  that  last  night  in  Colorado. 

There  were  some  obvious  and  striking  advantages 
about  this  riding  on  the  cow-catcher:  you  escaped 
dust  and  smoke,  while  the  open  air  did  away  with 
any  unusual  sound.  There  was  very  little  jarring 
motion ;  much  less  than  even  in  the  sacred  seclusion 
of  the  Pullman.  Inside  the  cab  it  was  not  so  pleasant : 
a  pandemonium  of  shrieks  and  groans,  as  the  dif- 
ferent levers  regulated  steam  or  motion ;  an  odious 
smell  of  badly-cooked  grease ;  a  sensation  of  being 
blinded  by  red-hot  sparks  and  cinders,  or  roasted  to 
death  by  the  almost  infernal  heat ;  an  insecure  seat 
on  a  high  wooden  stool,  with  your  modest  draperies 
twisted  about  you,  and  a  jerky,  broken  motion  like 
the  trotting  of  a  badly-trained  horse,  —  these  combine 
against  it;  but  even  here  the  novelty  ancl  delight  of 
the  situation  easily  overcomes  them  all. 

Perhaps  it  was  the  mental  exhaustion  consequent 
on  such  a  strain,  that  made  us,  like  Silas  Wegg, 
•'drop  into  poetry"  that  night,  at  sight  of  a  charming 
face  among  the  waiter-girls  at  the  station-hotel,  where 
we  stopped  for  supper.  She  was  a  bright  little  crea- 
ture, and,  I  trust,  will  forgive  the  doggerel,  since  it 
sings  the  praise  of — 

THE  PRETTY  MAID  OF  ANTONITO. 

'Twas  in  the  supper-room  at  night, 

While  waiting  for  a  chance  to  eat  O! 
We  saw  the  vision  of  delight, 

The  pretty  maid  of  Antonito  ! 


58  ON  THE   WING. 

Her  eyes  were  dark  and  very  bright, 
As  if  she  came  from  Spain  or  Quito,  — 

Her  pearly  teeth  were  small  and  white, 
This  bonny  maid  of  Antonito. 

Her  hair  was  parted  at  the  side, 

Her  step  was  light  as  a  mosquito, 
She  had  a  pretty  air  of  pride, 

This  charming  maid  of  Antonito. 

We  do  not  know  her  rightful  name, 
Perhaps  't  was  Jane,  perhaps  Pepito  — 

But  still  we  love  her  just  the  same, 
The  witching  maid  of  Antonito. 

If  we  could  pack  her  in  a  tin, 

Or  roll  her  in  a  small  paquito, 
O  wouldn't  we  just  scoop  her  in, 

And  take  her  far  from  Antonito  I 

She  looked  so  fresh,  so  pure,  so  gay, 

So  red  her  lips,  her  smile  so  sweet  O, 
We  could  not  tear  ourselves  away 

From  that  fair  maid  of  Antonito. 

But  where  she  goes,  or  what  her  state, 

If  married  she  or  senorita, — 
Adois!  treat  her  kindly,  Fate! 

The  pretty  maid  of  Antonito. 

We  came  back  through  the  Veta  Pass  in  the  darkest 
midnight  ever  formed ;  and  just  as  we  were  crawling 
at  a  snail's  pace  up  to  the  highest  point,  the  coupling 
between  the  cars  broke.  We  have  grown  so  used  to 
terrible  risks  now,  that  nothing  trivial  upsets  one  ; 
yet  I  must  confess  this  spoiled  my  repose  for  the 
night.  To  wake  at  some  sudden  shock  and  find  that 
you  are  nine  thousand  three  hundred  and  thirty-five 
feet  above  the  sea  level  and  the  little  house  at 


ON  THE   WING.  59 

home,  and  that  something  connected  with  the  ma- 
chinery of  your  vehicle  has  gone  to  pieces,  is  not 
particularly  reassuring.  When  you  are  conscious 
that  your  inalienable  rights  to  life,  liberty,  and  the 
pursuit  of  happiness  depend  upon  the  welding  of  a 
bit  of  iron,  or'  the  strength  of  a  piece  of  wood,  to 
hear  the  crack  of  doom  in  either  of  them  is  inex- 
pressibly chilling,  especially  when  you  are  up  in  the 
air  instead  of  being  on  terra  firma.  The  system  of 
automatic  brakes  is  brought  to  such  perfection,  how- 
ever, that  the  train  can  be  stopped,  even  on  the 
steepest  grade,  within  a  distance  of  twenty-eight  feet ; 
and  every  atom  of  apparatus  connected  with  cars 
or  engine  is  subjected  to  such  anxious  and  constant 
watchfulness  that  an  accident  is  very  seldom  heard  oL 

Everywhere,  except  when  we  struck  the  mountains, 
the  same  barren  gray  plains,  with  only  cactus  and 
sage-brush,  or  sparse  bunches  of  buffalo  grass  and 
moss,  to  relieve  their  monotony.  The  tiny  houses 
are  built  either  of  unpainted  logs  or  adobe,  neither  of 
which  possess  any  distinctive  coloring.  Only  the 
resplendent  sky  and  rich  sunshine  take  the  dreariness 
away.  But  whenever,  far  off,  the  dim  blue  heights 
were  climbing  the  horizon,  or  better  still,  the  snowy 
peaks  shone  radiant  in  the  eye  of  day,  there  was 
joy  enough  to  fill  the  present  and  lay  up  fair  store  for 
the  future. 

Before  climbing  the  Raton  Pass,  which  separates 
Colorado  from  New  Mexico,  next  morning,  we 
stopped  at  Trinidad.  On  the  mountain  just  in  front 
of  the  station,  a  castle,  so  perfect  as  to  be  astonishing 


60  ON   THE    WING. 

even  in  this  country  of  astonishing  rock  fantasies, 
rears  its  battlemented  walls  and  round  towers  as  fairly 
as  if  planned  by  the  hand  of  an  architect.  A  peculiar 
effect  is  produced  by  a  tree  growing  at  one  point  just 
within  the  massive  portal,  which  has  precisely  the 
shape  of  a  flag  raised  on  a  long  staff.  It  looks  like  a 
banner  flung  to  the  breeze  to  show  that  the  royal 
family  are  at  home. 

Within  the  last  two  days  we  have  passed  through 
and.  over,  five  of  the  grandest  and  wildest  passes  in 
America.  I  find  that  the  guide-books  speak  of  that 
of  La  Veta  as  overlooking  the  most  beautiful  valley  ; 
but,  to  us,  the  Grand  Canon  was  supremest,  because 
of  the  snow-clad  peaks  in  sight.  Those  radiant 
heights,  lifting  themselves  in  the  far,  serene  distance, 
have  spoiled  us  for  everything  else.  We  found  in  the 
gorges  some  lovely  flowers,  like  white  Christmas 
roses,  with  bunches  of  mountain  larkspur,  and  a  pretty 
blossom,  half  blue,  half  pink,  that  ought  to  be  a  pet 
with  French  milliners.  Along  the  plains  were  spikes 
of  pale  cream-color,  like  a,  sweet  pea  in  shape,  and 
golden  coreopsis  with  deep  brown  hearts  ;  while  at 
Las  Vegas  the  hillsides  were  covered  with  English 
daisies,  or  something  so  like  the  "  wee,  modest, 
crimson-tippet  flower,"  that  it  would  pass  for  it  with 
any  one  but  a  botanist. 

We  have  grown  really  attached  to  Colorado :  it  is 
fascinating  in  spite  of  its  barrenness,  and  progressive 
in  the  face  of  its  slowness ;  for  it  is  awfully  slow. 
Even  its  crack  city  of  Denver  is  behind  the  right 
Boston  time  by  two  good  hours. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE   BORDER    LANDS    OF    ROMANCE. 

COMING  across  the  mountains  into  Raton  this 
morning,  we  entered  the  border  land  of 
modern  romance.  In  those  great  plains, 
through  which  we  have  been  riding  all  day,  and  among 
the  beautiful  mountains  lying  beyond,  the  fabulous 
gifts  of  the  blind  goddess  Fortune  have  been  showered 
at  a  rate  which  has  often  changed  common  men,  in  a 
few  short  years,  to  princes.  A  kind  friend  has  just 
brought  in  a  story,  like  Aladdin's  lamp,  of  how 
riches  poured  upon  one  group  of  men,  poor,  unknown, 
and  in  no  way  gifted  beyond  the  clear-headed  Eastern 
foresight  which  grasps  possibilities  and  makes  cer- 
tainties of  them.  They  bought,  almost  for  nothing, 
a  whole  tract  of  country  here,  with  which  to  open  a 
colonization  scheme,  and  in  the  course  of  develop- 
ment found  gold  mines,  silver  mines,  coal  mines, 
asphalt,  platinum,  and  heaven  knows  what  of  mineral 
treasure.  The  land  behind  and  beside  these  includes 
millions  of  acres  for  stock-raising,  river  valleys  for 
farming,  and — hold  your  breath  while  you  think  of 
it!  —  one  of  the  snowy  ranges  that  have  snared  our 
hearts  forever.  Think  of  the  more  than  imperial 
magnificence  of  owning  one  of  these  connecting  links 
with  heaven !  The  president,  who  is  now  in  Europe 


62  ON  THE   WING. 

elaborating  his  plans,  lives  royally,  not  far  from  the 
line  of  road  we  travelled  to-day,  in  old  Spanish 
fashion,  with  forty  horses  in  his  stables;  with  separate 
buildings  gathered  around  inclosed  court-yards  for 
the  different  uses  of  his  household  and  guests ;  with 
the  wealth  of  the  Incas,  and  a  gorgeous  hospitality 
like  that  of  the  brilliant  but  unfortunate  Ralston. 
And  a  few  years  ago  this  Prince  Fortunatus  was 
cutting  grass  or  herding  cattle  on  the  plains,  with  re- 
volvers in  his  belt  to  hold  at  bay  marauding  Indians, 
earning  with  the  sweat  of  his  brow  his  laborer's  pay 
of  a  couple  of  dollars  a  day.  Was  there  ever  a  more 
fanciful  fairy  story,  only  that  this  is  real  life ! 

Immense  flocks  of  sheep  are  coming  into  range 
along  the  railway  line  now  for  the  first  time,  so  nume- 
rous that  it  seems  in  the  distance  as  if  the  great 
plains  had  been  piled  in  spots  with  thousands  on 
thousands  of  round  gray  rocks.  They  are  most  com- 
monplace and  uninteresting  animals  it  is  possible  to 
conceive,  awkward,  dust-colored  and  stupid.  Where 
do  Schreyer  and  Verboeckhoven  get  their  models? 
What  different  breeds  must  pose  for  those  soft-eyed, 
soft-fleeced  mothers,  those  tender  snowy  lambs,  those 
proud-horned  patriarchs  of  the  groups  they  delight  in ! 
They  are  watched  by  shepherds  ;  but  neither  are  they, 
by  any  means,  the  ideal  creatures.  Bearded  like  the 
pard,  mounted  like  Australian  bushwackers,  riding 
like  daredevils,  ugly,  and  I  am  sorry  to  say  dirty, 
they  as  little  resemble  the  idylic  creations  of  the 
French  and  Italian  school  as  a  potato  does  an  apricot. 
A  certain  amount  of  slovenliness  is  secretly  dear  to 


ON   THE   WING.  63 

the  artistic  temperament;  even  rags  and  tatters  can 
be  so  well  "  set "  as  to  produce  an  effect  which  good 
broadcloth  could  never  inspire  ;  but  the  brutal,  greasy, 
honest  frowziness  of  these  sheep-herders,  has  no  more 
to  do  with  the  picturesque,  than  the  sheep  they  tend. 
If  such  "shepherds  watched  their  flocks  by  night," 
I  wonder  if  the  angel  of  the  Lord  would  ever  have 
appeared  to  them. 

Now  adobe  houses  come  thick  and  fast;  indeed, 
they  are  the  only  habitations  to  be  seen,  except  when 
now  and  again  some  small  town  boasts  a  few  un- 
painted,  one-roomed  cottages,  as  saloons  or  hotel 
buildings.  The  perfect  level  of  the  plains  begins  to  be 
broken  by  undulations  and  low,  scrubby  hills,  covered 
with  something  very  like  the  savins  of  New  England. 
One  bit  of  ground  near  Galisteo,  for  five  miles  or  so, 
might  be  put  bodily  down  by  the  Old  Colony  Railroad 
at  Braintree,  and  the  oldest  inhabitant  would  never 
know  a  change  had  been  made.  Even  the  mountains 
look  like  Franconia  and  the  Notch ;  but  still  the 
patches  of  red  earth  cropping  up  here  and  there  are 
like  a  continuation  of  Colorado.  By  the  doors  of 
wayside  cabins,  swarth  groups  of  Mexicans,  darker 
than  mulattoes,  the  women  and  children  with  long, 
straight,  black  hair,  lounge.  We  have  gotten  out  of 
the  work-a-day  world  into  one  of  leisure.  Every  one 
looks  lazy;  there  would  be  bustle  enough  in  one 
street  of  the  sleepiest  Massachusetts  village  to  drive 
this  whole  nation  frantic. 

And  here  is  Las  Vegas — you  see  how  the  very 
names  begin  to  grow  soft  and  liquid  —  with  its  pretty 


64  ON  THE  WING. 

hotel,  the  Montezuma,  a  cross  between  the  Pemberton 
and  Nantasket.  It  is  finished  inside,  with  an  eye  for 
the  aesthetic  that  is  keener  than  any  we  have  met 
since  leaving  the  Hub.  The  carpets  are  as  nice  a  bit 
of  color  as  one  need  crave  ;  and,  from  the  patterns  of 
the  Kensington  embroidered  tidies,  to  the  shape  of 
the  cups  and  saucers,  all  is  as  it  should  be.  So  is  the 
service  at  table,  and  particularly  grateful  after  the 
plate-hurlers  of  Manitou.  There  was  a  piano  in  the 
west  parlor;  a  new  baby  Steinway,  one  of  the  love- 
liest instruments  ever  touched,  and  there  we  had  one 
golden  morning.  When  a  violin  has  breathed  into  it, 
by  some  witchcraft  of  soul,  such  tenderness  and 
weirdness  and  sweetness  as  draw  one's  spirit  out  with 
every  tone  that  comes  from  it,  and  when  a  piano  not 
only  sustains  but  inspires  it,  what  better  gift  of  the 
gods  can  the  world  give  us  than  to  sit  in  the  sunshine 
and  listen. 

If  you  want  to  know  the  real  luxury  of  a  good 
wash,  travel  three  thousand  miles  across  the  Conti- 
nent, be  steeped  in  dust  and  smoke  and  ashes,  live  in 
a  trunk  and  a  sleeping-car,  let  your  highest  ambition 
be  to  keep  your  face  and  hands  only  decently  dirty, 
and  then  get  into  one  of  the  warm  sulphur-baths  at 
Las  Vegas,  with  a  neat  handmaid  to  shampoo  your 
tired  head  and  make  you  clean,  and  neat,  and  whole- 
some. It  is  the  most  absolute  revel  in  the  world. 
You  will  understand,  then,  why  Greek  and  Roman 
built  baths  of  rare  and  costly  marbles,  and  spent 
hours  each  day  indulging  in  gentle  dalliance  with  per- 
fumed waters.  The  popular  belief  in  the  country 


ON   THE   WING.  65 

round  about,  is  that  the  baths  will  cure  everything  but 
consumption,  and  the  atmosphere  will  cure  that,  so 
there  is  no  chance  of  dying  here,  except  by  accident. 

We  passed  to-day  in  the  Apache  Canon,  the  scene 
of  a  celebrated  battle  between  Mexicans  and  Con- 
federates during  the  late  war,  and  the  ruins  of  the 
earliest  church  even  in  this  early  colony;  for  we  are 
now  in  an  old,  instead  of  a  new,  country.  It  knew  a 
more  ancient  settlement  than  ours  of  the  east.  Here, 
nearly  a  hundred  years  before  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
stepped  upon  Plymouth  rock,  the  stately  Spanish 
cavalier,  Alvar  Nunez,  led  his  company  of  knightly 
adventurers  and  Castilian  soldiers  through  the  sun- 
baked plains  in  search  of  hidden  treasure.  And  here 
long  before,  a  nation  of  brave,  gentle  people  lived  and 
loved,  leaving  traces  in  tradition  of  laws,  customs,  and 
works  which  sometimes  shame  the  boasted  civilization 
of  the  present. 

Just  as  the  sun  was  setting  behind  a  dim  line  of 
distant  mountains,  we  turned  across  the  plain  leading 
to  Santa  Fe,  and  saw  the  shining  dome  of  the  Jesuit's 
college,  which  is  the  most  prominent  building  in  the 
place,  reflecting  the  long,  level  rays.  Soon  we  were 
whirling  through  the  wildest  maze  of  tortuous  unpaved 
streets,  lost  in  whirlwinds  of  dust,  crossing  a  shallow 
ford  of  running  water  in  the  middle  of  the  highway, 
and  enveloped  from  head  to  foot  in  a  mysterious  feel- 
ing that  we  have  been  mixed  up  with  somebody  else 
and  are  cases  of  mistaken  identity.  On  the  warm  air, 
the  Angelus  is  ringing  from  the  church  towers;  dark- 
eyed,  sad-looking  women  are  gliding  like  shadows 


66  ON  THE   WING. 

under  the  long,  white  archways  which  line  the  street 
on  each  side ;  dogs  are  barking  in  wild  chorus ; 
soldiers  lounging  in  the  green  plaza;  a  world  of  flat- 
roofed,  blank-walled  adobe  houses,  around  and  before 
us ;  supper  is  waiting  in  the  dining-room  of  the  Palace 
Hotel,  and  we  are  in  the  city  of  the  Holy  Faith,  with 
a  feeling  as  if  we  were  cats  in  a  strange  garret. 

It  is  Sunday;  in  front  of  my  window,  a  garden  of 
perhaps  three  acres,  surrounded  by  high  walls  of 
adobe,  is  divided  into  checker-like  squares  by  raised 
banks  of  earth  about  two  feet  high,  in  order  to  keep 
the  scarce,  precious  water  on  the  beds  when  they  are 
sprinkled.  Faint  little  lines  of  green  show  themselves 
regularly  through  the  baked-looking  earth,  where  the 
very  late  early  vegetables  have  started,  but  they  are 
so  faint  that  they  scarcely  disturb  the  deep,  brown 
color.  In  one  place  a  small  patch  of  currant  bushes 
are  in  full  but  rather  thriftless  condition.  Along  the 
side  of  the  wide,  dusty  road,  flat-roofed,  one-story 
houses,  all  of  adobe,  still  show  straight,  almost  blank 
walls,  only  a  heavy  gate-like  door  here  and  there,  or 
Ihe  closed  wooden  shutters  of  a  window,  breaking  the 
monotony. 

These  would  seem  to  be  the  dreariest  of  mortal 
dwelling-places,  until  you  notice  through  one  of  the 
doors,  which  by  chance  has  been  left  open,  that  the 
little  houses  are  each  built  around  an  open  square, 
with  a  court-yard  in  the  centre,  c.t  least  in  the  better 
class  ;  this  is  planted  with  trees,  shrubbery  or  flowers, 
so  that  the  inner  life  is  better  than  the  outer.  A  broad 
piazza  is  always  in  front,  enclosed  under  heavy  arches, 


ON   THE    WING.  67 

or  supported  by  wooden  posts,  throwing  the  sidewalk 
into  shadow,  and  making  grateful  protection  from  the 
sun.  Up  this  covered  sidewalk  has  just  trotted  a 
little  donkey  with  two  Mexicans  on  his  back,  their  feet 
almost  touching  the  uneven  ground.  Down  the  centre 
of  the  dusty  road  comes  a  sound  of  music,  and  three 
men  with  fiddles,  playing  an  opera  air,  appear  at  the 
head  of  a  sad  little  procession,  bringing  a  dead  baby 
to  the  grave.  Four  little  dark-eyed  boys  hold  the  bier 
on  which  rests,  in  a  small  open  box  lined  with  pink 
and  covered  with  white  lace  and  flowers,  the  tiny  little 
waxen  figure,  while  a  man  walking  at  the  side,  carries 
under  his  arm  the  ornamented  pink  cover  which  is 
soon  to  be  fastened  down  forever.  Behind  comes  a 
motley  group  :  most  of  the  women  in  black  skirts, 
with  the  long,  graceful,  scarf-like  shawl  thrown  over 
the  head,  which  seems  to  be  the  national  costume. 
One  with  a  gay  bonnet  and  American  umbrella  looks 
as  out  of  place  as  the  others  would  in  a  Boston  street. 
Grotesque,  almost  ludicrous,  some  of  our  people  find 
it,  but,  to  me,  unutterably  touching;  for  it  seems  as 
if  the  yearning  hearts  even  in  the  first  dismal  pangs 
of  grief  are  trying  to  express  outwardly  their  firm 
trust  that  it  is  not  cause  for  mourning,  but  joy,  since 
"all  is  well  with  the  child."  Indeed,  this  is  the  belief 
which  their  Catholic  church  teaches,  and  it  is  beautiful 
as  Faith  and  Hope  can  make  it.  Heaven  grant  the 
peace  and  consolation  which  conviction  brings  with  it, 
to  the  weeping  eyes  following  so  longingly  the  little 
pink  casket ! 

Now  a  couple  of  Pueblo  Indians  mounted  on  mus- 


68  ON  THE  WING. 

tangs  dash  down  the  place  the  little  funeral  procession 
has  just  left.  Their  rather  gaudy  rags  and  gewgaws 
float  behind  them;  a  couple  of  muskets  swing  loosely 
at  the  side;  something  is  gleaming  at  each  belt;  they 
are  talking  rapidly  with  each  other  as  they  disap- 
pear in  a  cloud  of  dust  around  the  nearest  corner. 
Leaning  against  the  adobe  walls,  groups  of  swarthy, 
dark-eyed  men  lounge  or  lie  in  the  sun,  smoking  pipes 
or  cigarettes;  at  one  of  the  small  square  windows 
opening  above  their  heads,  a  woman's  face,  with  the 
sad,  questioning  look  which  belongs  to  the  people,  is 
looking  down.  In  the  street,  the  shawl  about  the 
head  is  drawn  forward  and  held  with  the  left  hand  so 
as  to  cover  the  mouth  entirely,  leaving  only  the  eyes 
visible.  This  alone  is  enough  to  give  an  oriental  air 
to  the  place  ;  a  long  ruffled  skirt  of  either  some  bright 
muslin,  or  black,  like  the  shawl,  completes  the  cos- 
tume. There  is  nothing  distinctive  about  the  men's 
dress,  except  the  broad-brimmed,  light-colored  hat, 
which  is  universal.  Just  beyond  the  drowsy  street, 
the  gothic  walls  of  the  new  cathedral,  which  is  slowly 
being  built  about  the  half-ruined,  centuries  old,  adobe 
building  of  the  early  missions,  shows  its  buttresses 
and  arched  windows.  Here  and  there,  always  between 
high  clay  walls,  patches  of  verdure  show  a  care- 
fully-tended bit  of  ground,  while  one  large,  shady 
spot,  well  covered  with  trees,  marks  the  outline  of 
Archbishop  Almy's  celebrated  garden.  In  this,  he 
has  demonstrated,  by  the  careful  experimenting  of 
many  years,  that  almost  every  variety  of  vegetation, 
from  the  fruits  and  flowers  of  the  North  to  the 


ON   THE    WING.  69 

tropical   luxuriance    of  the    South,   can  be  grown  in 
Santa  Fe,  if  irrigation  is  attended  to  properly. 

A  soft  summer  haze  is  over  everything;  even  the 
dogs  are  silent,  and  only  the  church  bells  break  the 
stillness.  Far  away  the  faint,  blue  mountains  rise 
mistily,  piled  like  clouds,  along  the  horizon;  and  all 
between,  save  for  the  few  prominent  cross-crowned 
church  buildings,  long,  low  walls  of  gray-brown  or 
white  adobe,  make  the  flat  earth  look  flatter,  until  it 
melts  into  the  baked  plains  beyond.  Every  motion 
that  meets  the  eye,  except  the  two  dashing  Indians,  is 
lazy  and  languid,  as  if  hurry  had  gone  out  of  the 
world.  Pictures  of  that  indolent  dolce  far  niente, 
loafers  couched  in  perfect  bliss,  are  all  about,  but 
they  do  not  look  like  the  seedy  beats  of  our  Northern 
experience ;  they  appear  to  have  a  certain  right  to  be 
lazy.  Even  the  team  of  twelve  oxen  crossing  the 
Plaza  looks  like  a  bit  of  still  life.  It  seems  out  of 
place  to  be  talking  and  thinking  in  English.  The 
soft,  musical  Spanish,  with  its  graceful  gesture  and 
liquid  flow,  is  more  in  keeping  with  the  earth  we  are 
in  now;  American  ^nasals  require  too  much  exertion. 

One  evening,  before  leaving  the  city,  we  were  taken, 
through  the  kindness  of  one  of  the  American  resi- 
dents, to  see  a  Mexican  dance.  The  walk  through 
the  dark,  crooked  streets,  stumbling,  in  utter  silence, 
over  still  darker  sidewalks  under  the  deep  arches,  was 
so  wierd  and  ghost-like,  that  it  made  odd  preparation 
•  for  a  festival  scene.  The  primitive  ball,  which  was  a 
weekly  occurrence,  was  held  in  the  one  long,  low- 
room  of  an  adobe  house,  which  was  entered  through 


70  ON   THE   WING. 

the  chamber  of  the  master  and  mistress.  A  single 
board  around  the  room  for  seats,  a  table  in  the  centre 
of  one  side,  upon  which  sat  three  dark-skinned, 
wrinkled  fiddlers,  some  tallow  candles  in  tin  fasten- 
ings high  on  the  walls,  and  a  small  counter  at  one 
end,  made  up  the  furnishing  of  the  place.  On  one 
side  the  men,  on  the  other  the  women,  sat  motionless 
and  voiceless.  We,  from  fear  of  infringing  on  the 
etiquette  of  the  place,  were  profoundly  silent  also,  so 
that  a  gathering  of  deaf  mutes  could  not  be  quieter. 
At  last  a  short,  swarth  man,  rising,  crossed  the  room, 
offered  his  arm  to  a  partner,  and  still  without  a  word, 
took  his  place  upon  the  floor ;  three  others  followed 
his  example,  so  that  a  set  was  formed  almost  in  the 
position  of  our  quadrilles ;  the  fiddlers  struck  up  an 
odd  but  well-timed  waltz,  and  the  dancers  began  a 
graceful  rythmic  movement,  with  so  much  ease  and 
such  just  conception  of  the  swaying  measure,  as  was 
surprising.  When  we  remembered  the  distorted  steps 
we  had  often  seen  danced  to  the  much-abused  waltz 
at  home,  it  was  refreshing  to  see  all  the  performers 
moving  with  such  delicious  languor  in  slow  circles,  as 
if  the  very  spirit  of  the  music  were  pulsing  through 
them.  There  were  many  pretty  figures,  always  timed 
to  the  same  swaying  step,  and  always  performed  with 
the  same  gentle  gravity.  The  women,  except  for 
their  lovely,  dark  Spanish  eyes,  were  decidedly  homely, 
the  men  little  better ;  but  one  beautiful  Madonna-faced 
creature  showed  what  the  type  could  be  when  it 
reached  perfection.  The  dances  all  resembled  each 
other,  and,  in  the  intervals,  refreshments,  in  the  shape 


ON   THE   WING.  71 

of  soda  and  sarsaparilla-waters,  with  glass  dishes  of 
bright-colored  bonbons,  were  handed  around.  We 
were  treated  with  great  kindness,  and  were  much  im- 
pressed with  the  quiet  dignity  and  grace  of  the  people, 
which  seemed  so  unlike  the  noisy  hilarity  of  a  similar 
meeting  at  home.  It  was  in  keeping  with  the  slow, 
quiet,  grave  world  around  us. 

We  had  at  Wallace,  three  hours  after  leaving  Santa 
Fd,  our  first  real  introduction  to  the  Indians.  They 
crowded  the  hotel  and  railroad  platforms,  offering 
small  lots  of  very  poor  turquoise  and  native  pottery 
for  sale.  They  always  asked  three  times  as  much  as 
they  intended  to 'take,  and  would  sell  the  tin  bracelets 
on  their  very  dirty  arms,  or  the  silver  rings  in  their 
very  dirty  ears,  for  one  or  two  of  the  "bits"  they 
coveted  so  much.  I  am  not  sure  that  they  would  not 
have  sold  themselves  and  their  children  if  the  price 
was  high  enough.  They  were  a  sharp  blow  to  any 
preconceived  idea  of  Indian  nobility;  the  features, 
without  being  particularly  bad,  were  so  wanting  in 
any  sort  of  animation  ;  the  petty  pride  in  a  paint- 
streaked  face  or  a  gaudy  necklace  so  apparent ;  the 
dirt  so  hideous,  both  of  themselves  and  their  filthy, 
faded  blankets,  that  one  involuntarily  shrank  from 
contact.  But  they  had  good  eyes,  good  teeth,  figures 
erect  as  a  young  sapling,  and,  where  they  followed  the 
traditional  costume  of  their  race,  a  certain  pic- 
turesqueness  not  yet  quite  destroyed.  You  could 
conceive  that  there  might  be  among  them  some  young 
chief  worthy  to  be  the  friend  of  Deer  Slayer.  But  as 
soon  as  they  attempted  Christian  habiliments  and  clis- 


72  ON   THE    WING. 

guised  themselves  in  shop-made  coats  and  trousers, 
the  repulsiveness  of  their  dirty  personnel  was  so 
exaggerated,  that  it  overcame  everything  else.  You 
were  disgusted,  and  nothing  more.  Their  chief  was 
a  much  superior  specimen  to  most  of  his  tribe. 

We  were  in  a  very  perturbed  state  of  mind  all  that 
night,  from  some  accounts  we  had  heard  of  danger 
from  the  Navajos  farther  on,  and  of  the  dread  of  the 
people  of  Wallace  even  of  these  Pueblos.  Their 
mild  stolidity  might  be  only  a  cloak  for  some  fiendish 
plot ;  and  when  you  are  in  the  midst  of  a  'country 
which  is  credited  with  being  in  a  state  of  uprising, 
your  nerves  toward  evening  are  just  in  a  condition  to 
be  worked ;  so,  though  common  sense  in  the  still 
small  voice  of  conscience  declared  the  whole  thing 
impossible,  we  persisted  in  imagining  a  war-whoop  in 
every  steam-whistle,  a  night  attack  in  every  sudden 
stop,  and  instant  annihilation  lurking  in  every  shadow. 
But  we  woke  with  our  scalps  on. 

El  Paso,  looked  from  the  cars  like  another  Santa 
F^,  only  more  caked  and  baked,  if  possible,  with 
mountains  like  dirt-heaps  in  the  distance.  We  were 
all  somewhat  out  of  sorts  after  the  sleepless  night 
and  dreadfully  hot  morning  which  followed  it,  and 
the  clouds  of  flying  dust  and  lifeless  adobe  houses 
made  us  still  more  hippish.  But  the  ride  across  into 
old  Mexico,  in  spite  of  dust,  in  spite  of  heat,  in  spite 
of  bad  temper,  was  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  our 
lives.  Once  you  had  gotten  across  the  rope  ferry 
over  the  Rio  Grande,  you  were  in  a  bit  of  Moorish 
Spain.  Before  and  around  you  constantly,  are  narrow, 


ON  THE  WING.  73 

dusty  streets,  bordered  by  low  adobe  walls,  with  an 
occasional  heavy  door  opening  into  an  inner  court- 
yard, bright  with  tall,  blossoming  oleanders,  rising 
from  amid  green  shrubbery  around  a  tinkling  foun- 
tain. Brown-skinned,  bare-armed  and  bare -legged 
figures,  in  short  turic  and  drawers  of  white  linen, 
work  among  the  vines  in  vineyards  surrounded  by 
high,  hot  walls ;  a  train  of  Mexican  supply  wagons, 
blue-bodied  and  white-capped,  shining  in  the  brilliant 
.sunshine,  each  drawn  by  twelve  burros,  with  bells  on 
their  bridles,  driven  four  abreast  by  a  cloud  of  broad- 
hatted,  broad-sashed  muleteers,  comes  up  some  narrow 
lane.  We  drove  along  a  shady  road,  arched  with 
cottonwoods  and  blossoming  locusts ;  a  swift-flowing 
canal  ran  at  one  side ;  on  the  other,  a  hedge  of  tall- 
spiked-cactus,  each  prickly  rod  tipped  with  one  flaming 
blossom  of  glowing  scarlet,  like  Joseph's  rod,  which 
blossomed  at  the  top.  Fields  of  purple  alfalfa,  bearded 
barley,  swaying  wheat,  acre  after  acre  of  vineyard, 
stretched  on  either  hand,  divided  by  hedges  of  osage 
orange,  or  adobe  walls  surmounted  by  the  flat  prairie 
cactus  we  had  seen  before.  A  brown,  wrinkled  hag, 
kneeling  on  the  red  earth  under  a  mesquite  bush  by 
the  side  of  a  small  pool,  polished  a  bright  brass  kettle, 
which  glowed  like  some  sacred  vessel  in  the  service  of 
the  Sun  God.  A  train  of  small  burros  came  winding 
down  one  of  the  crooked  streets  between  high  walls  of 
adobe,  each  with  two  tiny,  half-naked,  black  imps  on 
its  shaggy  back.  Aross  a  field  came  a  shapely  young 
woman,  her  bright,  dark  eyes  intensified  by  a  white 
scarf  thrown  over  the  brow,  balancing  on  her  head  a 


74  ON  THE   WING. 

great  earthern  jar  of  water,  while  two  little  boys  at 
.  her  side  trotted  contentedly  on,  each  bearing  two 
pails  hanging  from  a  primitive  yoke  resting  on  the 
shoulders.  Behind  the  wooden  bars  of  a  grated 
window  a  group  of  bronzed  baby  faces  looked  gravely 
out ;  under  an  archway  the  glowing  white  walls  of  a 
court-yard  showed  itself,  a  hand's-breadth  of  blue 
sky  shining  above.  Once  a  young  girl,  with  a  bril- 
liant, dark  face,  held  up  a  glorious  bunch  of  deep-red 
roses  as  we  drove  past,  and,  running  after  the  car- 
riage, shyly  placed  them  in  my  hands,  and  ran  laughing 
back  to  the  shelter  of  the  placita. 

So  it  was  endlessly :  it  was  the  novelty  of  Santa 
F£  intensified  tenfold,  with  a  greater  compliment  of 
beauty  than  Santa  F£  ever  possessed.  One  wanted 
to  go  in  and  stay  for  awhile  with  the  grave,  courteous, 
brown  people  in  the  drowsy  shade  of  the  arches  lead- 
ing into  some  quiet  placita,  with  the  Angelus  bells 
coming  in  pulsing  waves  cf  soft  sound  through  the 
sultry  air.  It  seemed  as  if  here,  at  least,  care  should 
sleep,  and  the  bristling,  bustling  tumult  of  life  lose 
itself  in  the  dolce  far  niente  of  summer  restfulness. 
Fade  far  away,  dreams  of  ambition !  Melt  into  thin, 
blue  air,  like  the  smoke  curling  slenderly  from  yon 
adobe  chimney;  what  has  perplexity,  or  longing,  or 
vain  desire,  or  vainer  effort,  to  do  with  this  Land  of 
the  Lotus  ?  What  is  life  but  the  calm  of  passionless 
content,  and  the  culmination  —  the  apotheosis  —  of 
laziness  !  And  what  are  we  but  disembodied  spirits, 
floating  in  a  languid  atmosphere  of  luxurious  content, 
at  peace  with  ourselves  and  the  world! 


ON   THE   WING.  75 

There  was  an  irresistible  fascination  over  every- 
thing. The  Scriptural-looking  flat  roofs,  surrounded 
by  a  low  parapet,  as  if  the  inhabitants  were  in  the 
habit  of  using  them  for  summer  bed-rooms,  did  more 
than  any  one  other  feature  to  give  an  absolutely 
foreign  air.  Men  plowing  in  high-walled  fields,  used 
a  plow  made  of  a  pointed  piece  of  wood,  fitted  with 
handles,  and  drove  their  oxen  by  a  long  thong  of  hide 
fastened  to  the  horns.  Existence  here  was  under  the 
most  primitive  conditions.  Perhaps  if  one  could  stay 
longer,  so  as  to  know  them  well,  this  small,  slight 
people  might  develop  an  activity  which  would  change 
our  first  impression;  but,  so  far,  the  almond-eyed 
Chinese,  coming  in  felt  shoes  and  blue  pjahma  down 
the  long  arcade  on  the  sunny  side  of  the  street,  looks 
the  embodiment  of  purpose  and  business,  compared 
with  the  Mexicans  before  and  after  him.  Business, 
if  it  is  not  a  mistake  to  speak  of  business  in  connec- 
tion with  affairs  here,  is  conducted  in  the  easiest 
way ;  the  ferry  crossing  the  Rio  Grande  is  a  flat-boat, 
with  two  ropes  at  the  sides,  fastened  to  pulleys,  which 
run  over  a  cable  stretched  from  bank  to  bank.  The 
tremendously  swift  current  swings  it  across  ;  a  couple 
of  men  with  a  windlass  guide  it ;  it  moves  somewhat, 
cumbrously  and  very  slowly,  while  those  on  the  bank 
stand  fretting  and  fuming,  waiting  their  turn.  A 
bridge  across  the  narrow  stream  would  do  ten  times 
the  work,  or  a  boat  with  proper  machinery,  but  this  is 
probably  why  it  is  n't  in  use.  It  would  be  the  entering; 
wedge  toward  hurrying  up,  and  your  true  Mexican 
never  hurries.  Indeed,  he  has  pretty  fairly  inoculated 


76  ON  THE  WING. 

his  American  fellow-citizen :  they  have  never  quite 
become  satisfied  with  the  railroad. 

I  wonder  how  many  of  our  young  people  would  like 
to  go  housekeeping  in  one  of  those  adobe  houses. 
There  is  one  incalculable  blessing,  —  no  stairs.  If 
you  want  to  climb  on  top  of  the  flat  roof  over  the 
single  story,  you  must  take  a  ladder.  Through  the 
door,  in  the  blank  clay  wall  which  fronts  the  street,  a 
narrow,  dark  passage,  usually  whitewashed,  leads  to 
the  placita,  or  square  central  court-yard,  on  which  all 
the  rooms  open.  The  parlor  has  a  print  or  two  on 
the  walls,  probably,  and  a  rug  or  two  on  the  bare, 
clean,  scrubbed  floor;  possibly,  a  table  with  a  few 
books,  a  couple  of  wicker-chairs,  and  a  white  muslin 
curtain  at  the  little  window.  There  may  be  a  bowl  of 
Pueblo  pottery  or  a  brilliantly-dyed  Indian  blanket,  or 
a  sewing-machine  in  a  corner,  but  this  is  unusual  and 
superfluous  luxury.  The  dining-room  has  its  round 
table  and  a  few  simple  chairs;  the  kitchen,  its  fire- 
place and  mesa ;  the  bedrooms,  dark  and  cool,  their 
small,  single,  white  beds,  and  nothing  else.  It  is  not 
overwhelming,  but  it  is  enough ;  and  their  house- 
keepers do  not  die  of  nervous  prostration. 

The  system  of  irrigation  is  very  simple,  but  exten- 
sive. Earthen  ditches  conduct  the  water  from  the 
river,  from  mountain  springs,  or  from  artificial  reser- 
voirs, through  the  fields,  crossing  the  roads  by  means 
of  small  wooden  conduits,  which  make  abrupt,  jerky 
elevations  every  few  hundred  feet.  By  damming  the 
flow  of  water  at  one  point,  it  can  be  turned  into  any 
desired  channel,  so  that  every  field,  no  matter  how 


ON    THE    WING.  77 

lar^e,  is  completely  under  control.  They  pretend  that 
it  is  a  much  safer  plan  than  that  cf  depending  on 
natural  means  ;  but,  for  myself,  I  believe  the  rain  is 
the  better  watering-pot. 

•  This  was  all  on  the  Mexican  side,  in  El  Paso  del 
Norte,  where  the  three-barred  Mexican  flag  which 
should  have  floated  on  its  tall  staff,  but  did  not,  pro- 
claimed that  we  were  indeed  and  truth  in  a  strange 
land.  Of  El  Paso  itself,  the  Texan  city,  we  have  the 
most  unpleasant  memories  of  the  trip  thus  far.  The 
day  was  insufferably  hot;  we  were  not  prepared  for  it; 
the  streets  were  a  foot  deep  in  powdery  dust,  which 
choked  unmercifully ;  we  were  still  lurkingly  and 
secretly  "afraid  of  the  Indians  and  cowboys,  about 
whom  dreadful  people  were  constantly  dropping  hints 
and  innuendoes ;  we  were  half  sick  and  wholly  tired 
from  the  unwonted  temperature ;  iced  lemonade  was 
twenty-five  cents  a  glass  and  oranges  four  for  a  dollar, 
so  the  bitter  cup  was  full.  There  is  no  balm  in  the 
Gilead  of  travelling  which  will  heal  so  many  ills  at 
once. 

But  that  bit  of  Mexico,  that  oasis  which  only  the 
rushing,  shining  river  separated  from  the  dust  desert 
of  Texas,  with  its  green  groves  of  locust  and  cotton- 
wood,  its  hedges  of  cactus  and  mesquite,  its  bushes 
of  wild  roses,  its  wavy,  delicate  greenery !  It  was  all 
Morocco.  It  was  only  necessary  to  replace  the  broad 
sombrero  with  the  Moslem  fez,  and  pile  the  contents 
of  the  wagons  on  the  backs  of  a  caravan  cf  camels. 
All  sorts  of  Scriptural  and  oriental  pictures  came  to 
one's  mind:  the  bits  of  blue  sky  glowing  between 


78  ON   THE   WING. 

naked  white  or  brown  walls ;  the  bare-armed  laborers 
in  loose,  white  jacket  and  short  trousers  ;  the  long, 
jingling  lines  of  mules  and  donkeys  creeping  lazily  up 
narrow,  sleepy  lanes ;  even  the  lustrous  eyes  and 
teeth,  and  the  frequent  bit  of  bright  or  white  drapery, 
Icept  up  the  illusion.  The  children  were  the  hand- 
somest race  1  ever  saw  in  my  life,  and  the  straight, 
lithe  riders,  doffing  hats  as  they  passed  in  token  of 
salutation,  had  a  graceful  deference  which  even  their 
haughty  brothers  of  the  East  could  not  surpass.  The 
odds  for  effectiveness  and  picturesqueness  would  of 
course  be  in  favor  of  the  Bedouin,  with  his  flowing 
mantle  and  Arab  steed  ;  but  somehow  or  other,  though 
there  is  nothing  in  life  less  dignified  than  a  mule, 
a  Mexican  can  manage  to  preserve  the  illusion  of 
dignity  even  with  this  long -eared  animal  as  his 
accessory. 

The  soft-flowing  Spanish  names  of  this  part  of  the 
world  are  another  source  of  novelty  to  our  English 
ears,  grating  yet  with  the  harsh  usage  they  received 
in  Kansas  and  the  middle  West.  How  can  Alamosa, 
Antonita,  Fra  Cristobal,  San  Diego  and  Valverde  be 
anything  but  lovely?  Is  a  backyard  any  longer  a 
backyard  when  it  is  a  placita?  isn't  a  vulgar  shop 
removed  from  all  suspicion  of  vulgarity  when  it  is 
changed  to  la  tienda  ?  and  ought  not  all  tables  to  be 
made  of  ormolu  or  buhl  when  they  become  mesas  ? 
But  in  spite  of  even  this  fine  bit  of  sentiment,  we  were 
all  heartily  glad  to  start  again  on  our  journey,  and  see 
fade  behind  us  into  the  grey  desert  from  which  it  had 
risen  the  wall  of  the  house  in  El  Paso,  with  its  twenty- 


ON  THE  WING. 


79 


five  bullet  marks,  where  four  desperadoes  had  emptied 
their  revolvers  at  the  sheriff  trying  to  capture  them; 
and  the  more  sinister  marks  on  the  door-post  across 
the  street  where  the  sheriff  in  turn  had  killed  three  of 
the  men  while  trying  to  seize  a  fourth.  Such  are  the 
legends  that  hang  like  clouds  yet,  around  the  rising 
star  of  the  West. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE   CITY    OF   THE   ANGELS. 

THE  best  specimen  we  have  seen  yet  of  the 
traditional  Westerner,  the  man  whom  Bret 
Harte  created  and  the  world  has  taken  as  a 
type,  fearless,  dashing,  yet  gentle,  was  the  sheriff  of 
Santa  Fe,  who  travelled  with  us  for  a  short  time  on 
his  way  to  Missouri  to  pick  up  some  criminals.  He 
had  killed  in  the  course  of  his  different  terms  of  ser- 
vice, and  purely  as  a  matter  of  business,  ten  men,  and 
was  reported  to  be  as  absolutely  unconcerned  in  the 
face  of  danger  as  Billy  the  Kid,  a  desperado  who, 
before  he  was  shot  at  the  age  of  twenty,  had  killed 
twenty-eight  men.  Tony  carried  in  his  belt  a  revolver 
belonging  to  this  same  Billy,  and  took  a  modest  pride 
in  showing  it  and  giving  its  bloody  record.  He  was  a 
handsome  fellow,  tall,  straight,  with  fine  teeth  and ' 
large  dark  eyes,  and  a  shy,  awkward  smile,  which 
made  him  look  more  like  an  innocent  countryman  out 
on  a  holiday,  than  the  reckless,  cool,  dare-devil  he 
was.  He  showered  a  handful  of  garnets  on  one  of 
the  young  people,  as  if  they  were  common  stones, 
just  as  an  emperor  flings  diamonds  at  Patti,  and  car- 
ried a  little  package  of  pretty  things  to  an  only  sister 
he  was  to  see  on  his  way,  as  tenderly  as  any  kinrf> 
common-place  brother  might.  He  spoke  of  the  In- 


82  ON  THE   WING. 

dians  in  terms  of  such  absolute  and  undisguised 
contempt,  that  we  gave  the  remnants  of  our  fears  to 
the  winds,  and  were  honestly  sorry  when  the  big,  brave, 
gentle  barbarian  took  his  leave  at  Albuquerque. 

Nothing  can  be  more  desolately  dreadful  than  the 
alkali  plains  of  Arizona,  unless  it  be  those  of  Cali- 
fornia farther  on.  The  poor,  sparse  vegetation  is  cov- 
ered with  the  same  gray  dust,  so' that  it  looks  like 
the  ghastly  form  of  life  with  the  spirit  departed,  as 
one  imagines  the  pallid  trees  and  shadowy  shrubs  of 
Dante's  inferno.  It  is  a  world  that  might  be  inhabited 
by  disembodied  spirits,  whose  hopeless  eyes  wandered 
aimlessly  amid  the  ghosts  of  remembered  things. 
The  saddest  of  all  sad  places !  Even  the  mountains, 
instead  of  the  titanic  spurs  and  slopes  which  make 
New  Mexico  and  Colorado  beautiful,  were  only  giant 
dust  heaps,  tumbled  in  inextricable  confusion,  lovely 
still,  though,  with  a  vague,  undefined  outline,  far-off 
against  the  sky.  The  air  had  begun  to  grow  more 
hazy ;  the  sky  was  a  paler  blue ;  the  enormous  cacti, 
which  look  always  as  if  they  belonged  to  some  past 
age  of  the  world,  and  should  have  gone  out  forever 
with  the  ichthyosaurus  and  megetharium,  lifted  their 
uncouth  ugliness  into  painful  prominence.  It  is  the 
most  unlovely  vegetable  creation  on  earth :  fleshly, 
prickly,  horrible  in  its  stolid,  brutal  obstinacy;  even 
its  gorgeous  flowers  do  not  lessen  its  repulsiveness. 
You  are  filled  with  wonder  to  see  so  fair  a  blossom  on 
so  foul  a  stem ;  but  that  is  all :  you  do  not  love  the 
stinging  monster  that  bears  it  any  the  more.  Covered 
with  the  shining  dust  of  the  plains,  so  that  they  seem 


ON  THE   WING.  83 

to  spring  like  abortions  of  the  earth  itself,  they  are 
more  than  ever  repulsive.  .  I  hate  the  cactus :  it  looks 
like  the  reptile  of  the  vegetable  world. 

At  times  one  comes  upon  a  perfectly  leve^l  plain  like 
a  white  sea,  absolutely  unrelieved  by  anything  beyond 
billows  of  sand  stretching  to  the  dim  mountains  on 
either  hand.  At  other  times,  masses  of  the  most 
wonderful  flowers,  great  ox-eyed  daisies,  golrlen  core- 
opsis, fine  purple  verbena,  and  a  lily-shaped,  velvety 
flower  of  deep,  solid  yellow,  grew  in  clusters  that 
would  make  a  city  forester  wild  with  envy.  We  filled 
the  car  with  stacks  of  these  at  each  stopping-place, 
only  too  glad  of  some  relief  from  the  dreadful,  gray 
monotony  outside.  In  the  very  midst  of  all  this,  on 
what  is  called  the  Sulphur  Plains,  the  most  beautiful 
mirage  came  and  lasted  for  hours.  From  a  blue  sea 
the  mountains  rose,  their  purple  peaks  reflected  to 
perfection  in  the  clear  water;  while  isolated  masses, 
brown  and  yellow,  full  of  chrome  and  umber  shadows 
like  the  rocks  at  Nantasket,  lifted  themselves  between. 
I  never  dreamed  before  of  such  an  illusion.  One 
could  wonder  no  longer  after  this  at  the  hallucination 
which  tempts  caravans  and  wayworn  travellers  miles 
out  of  their  way,  luring  them  to  death  and  destruc- 
tion, to  reach  the  shining  waters  gleaming  so  placidly 
beyond. 

At  Fort  Yuma  we  met  another  tribe  of  Indians, 
better  made,  physically,  than  the  Pueblos,  taller  of 
stature,  more  symmetrical,  and,  except  for  the  hair,  a 
shade  less  dirty.  One  fellow,  with  a  leonine  mane, 
massive  head,  and  finely  marked  features,  had  a 


84  ON  THE   WING. 

grotesque  resemblance  to  Rubenstein,  especially  when 
striding  across  the  platform  at  'the  depot  to  offer  a 
wicker-basket  full  of  live  quail  for  sale,  he  tossed  back 
his  long  locks  with  a  fine  fling  of  the  head.  The 
people  seemed  aware  of  their  natural  advantages  and 
inclined  to  display  them  as  much  as  possible  ;  so  that 
while  the  Pueblo  women  covered  even  the  ankles  with 
close  wrappings,  and  held  their  greasy  blankets  high 
around  the  neck,  the  matrons  of  Yuma  folded  one 
long  piece  of  brilliant  calico  straightly  around  the 
body,  and  that  was  all.  It  was  usually  passed  under 
the  arms,  but  sometimes  covered  one  shoulder.  Most 
of  the  braves,  wore  one  striped  garment  like  an  under- 
vest,  and  disdained  to  fret  their  proud  limbs  by  any 
other  unnecessary  muffling.  Some  of  our  people 
looked  askance  at  first,  and  one  dear  old  lady,  tugging 
at  my  dress,  exclaimed,  "  Why  can  V  they  make  those 
awful  creatures  put  on  more  clothes?"  But  they 
decided  at  last  that  this  severe  simplicity  of  attire 
was  one  of  the  monstrous  productions  of  the  country, 
like  the  cactus  and  the  sand-plains,  and  so  must  be 
tolerated. 

The  current  of  the  Colorado,  like  that  of  most 
rivers  we  had  passed  lately,  was  exceedingly  swift, 
and  the  water,  probably  on  that  account,  muddy. 
Still  the  effect,  except  when  looking  directly  down, 
was  blue  and  brilliant,  full  of  dancing  lights  and 
pretty,  sparkling  eddies,  wliich  foamed  at  the  foot  of 
the  tall  cliffs  bounding  the  sides. 

Almost  immediately  after  leaving  Yuma,  we  plunged 
into  the  desert  again.  Inexpressibly  dreary ;  the  dead 


ON  THE   WING.  85 

plain,  the  tufted  pine-apple  plants,  the  gray  cactus,  the 
skeleton  bushes ;  and  always  the  dim  outline  of  the 
mountains  on  either  hand,  like  giant  thunder-clouds, 
adding  their  wrathful,  brooding  silence  to  the  sullen 
scene.  It  might  be  Sahara  instead  of  California;  yon 
far-away  moving  speck  a  train  of  dromedaries,  with 
caftaned,  slow-pacing  Musselmans  by  their  sicjes ;  that 
tufted  palm  the  edge  of  an  oasis.  And  here,  praised 
ba  the  Fates  !  1  y  the  brink  cf  a  muddy  water-course, 
his  humped  back  elevated  in  a  broken  arch  against 
the  sky,  his  patient  neck  bowed  abjectly  as  he  lifts 
it  to  look  at  the  passing  train,  is  a  camel:  a  real, 
truly,  dust -colored  camel!  When  our  picturesque 
young  man,  with  a  bright-colored  turban  wound  around 
his  dusty  locks,  a  Navajo  scarf  girdling  his  somewhat 
slender  waist,  opens  the  door  and  shouts,  "Algiers! 
ten  minutes  for  sherbet  and  pillauf !"  we  all  smile 
absently,  as  if  it  might  have  been,  even  if  it  is  not. 

Suddenly,  almost  without  warning,  we  have  left  the 
wastes  of  sand  behind,  and  are  whirling  between  foot- 
hills, low  and  green,  almost  hemming  in  the  track; 
the  great  shadowy  mountains,  still  as  grim  and  dusty 
as  ever,  stretch  beyond  •  but  between  us  and  them 
such  lovely,  smiling  valleys,  such  fields  of  waving 
grain,  such  yellow  sweeps  of  wild  mustard,  such  an 
infinitely  beautiful  variation  of  changeful,  harmonious 
colors  !  Now  and  again  a  sparkling  stream  of  clear, 
running  water;  a  pretty,  small  house,  with  its  kitchen 
gardens  stretching  in  order  around  the  porch ;  the 
spire  of  a  tiny  village  church ;  a  camp  of  Chinese 
laborers  gathered  into  a  circle  of  small  white  tents. 


86  ON  THE  WING. 

The  change  is  so  instantaneous  that  you  wait,  watch- 
ing for  the  desert  to  return  again.  But  no ;  the  lovely, 
smiling  land  only  broadens  and  brightens;  vineyards 
come,  and  meadows  of  purple  alfalfa;  the  dooryards 
of  isolated  cottages  are  glowing  with  enormous  ole- 
anders and  spikes  of  tall  white  lilies ;  a  man  walking 
on  the  track,  with  his  hands  full  of  branches  of  snow- 
ball, tosses  them  into  the  car  windows  as  if  they  were 
the  commonest  things  in  life.  And  this  within  half 
an  hour,  after  having  passed  two  long,  ghostly  days 
hemmed  in  by  the  awful  desolation  of  the  gray  dcsertr 
with  nor  sight  nor  sound  of  life  save  at  meal-stations 
and  water-tanks !  It  is  better  than  the  grand  trans- 
formation scene  in  a  Christmas  pantomime. 

It  seems  quite  natural  to  feast  at  dinner-time  on 
spring  chickens  and  fresh  peas,  with  a  bouquet  cf 
flowers  by  each  plate;  it  would  seem  natural  if  the 
restaurant-waiters  floated  out  in  gauzy  skirts  to -the 
sound  of  soft  music  to  attend  us.  Can  this  exquisite, 
perfumed  land  be  the  same,  by  any  law  of  God  or 
nature,  as  the  dark  and  direful  place  through  which 
we  were  journeying  before  ? 

Back  again  come  the  old  landmarks  of  civilization, 
the  patent  plows  and  harrows,  the  thrifty,  home- 
like look  of  neatness  about  dooryard  and  well-sweep. 
In  broad  fields,  husbandmen  are  already  harvesting 
some  of  their  crops,  while  others  arc  just  beginning 
to  spring  into  the  sunshine.  Strange-leaved  trees, 
the  deep  slaty-blue  of  the  eucalyptus,  the  generous, 
large-armed  shade  of  the  walnut,  the  gigantic,  deeply- 
scalloped  foliage  of  the  fig,  come  now  and  again  to 


ON  THE   WING.  87 

vary  the  landscape.  The  wayside  grass  grows  tall 
and  thick,  headed  like  bearded  barley ;  the  flowers  are 
larger;  climbing  roses  festoon  the  entire  fronts  of 
the  little  houses,  and  tangled  white  honeysuckles  rise 
like  trees  into  the  air.  There,  a  hedge  of  callas  lifts 
itself  statelily  six  feet  above  the  garden  border;  here, 
a  one-story  cottage  is  covered  to  the  eaves  with  trail- 
ing smilax.  We  are  in  constant  bewilderment  and 

o 

ecstasy,  until,  just  as  the  sun  is  setting  behind  the  old 
belfry  of  the  ancient  mission-church  of  San  Gabriel, ' 
and  the  evening  star  we  have  seen  so  often  is  rising 
with  the  pale  silver  bow  of  the  newest  of  all  new  moons 
by  its  side,  a  breath  of  fragrance  unknown  before, 
an  impalpable,  fine  essence,  as  of  something  we  have 
known  in  dreams,  floats  across  the  still  air,  and  we 
know  that  at  last — at  last — we  have  come  into  the 
promised  kingdom,  and  are  flying  through  the  orange 
groves  of  the  Land  of  Flowers. 

When  we  rode  out  next  day  from  Los  Angeles  to 
the  Mission,  and,  after  passing  miles  of  spicy  avenues, 
stretching  right  and  left  in  long  diverging  lines  of 
glossy,  dark-leaved  trees,  white  with  blossoms  on  the 
outer  edges,  and  heavy  with  red-gold  clusters  of  fruit 
within,  turned  into  the  lane  leading  to  Sierra  Madre 
Villa,  it  was  too  utterly  beautiful  for  anything  but 
fairyland.  A  beauty  as  different  from  that  cf  Manitou 
as  can  well  be  imagined ;  warm,  voluptuous,  languish- 
ing beauty ;  air  faint  with  odors  of  millions  of  sleepy 
flowers  ;  a  bewilderment  of  bloom  and  brightness  ;  a 
veritable,  wild  garden,  with  everything  from  a  timid 
New  England  pink  or  English  violet  to  the  passionate 


88  ON   THE   WING. 

depth  of  a  forest  of  jacqueminots,  or  the  stately, 
Juno -like  waxiness  of  a  catalpa.  Such  a  riotous 
wealth  of  bloom  and  fragrance,  as  if  Nature  had  gone 
on  a  revel,  and,  tipsy  with  delight,  had  spun  into 
odorous  masses  of  color  and  light  every  whim  that 
crossed  her  vagabond  fancy !  Century  plants  had 
truncated  columns  thirty  feet  high  in  the  centre; 
Marechal  Neils  and  Gold  of  Ophir  roses,  blazing  scar- 
let pomegranate  tips,  slender  Eastern  palms  with  tall, 
swaying,  fan-like  leaves,  tangled  themselves  in  a 
labyrinth  of  beauty  at  every  step;  and  behind,  loom- 
ing like  the  shadow  of  some  great  veiled  fate,  the 
waiting  mountains  rose,  half  hidden  by  the  misty 
blue  air. 

We  drove  through  the  most  extensive  orange  groves 
and  vineyards  of  the  region,  and  were  royally  treated. 
I  wonder  whether  oranges  ever  again  will  taste  so 
sweet  as  those  great  luscious  globes ;  I  know  they 
never  will,  foi  wnile  we  were  eating  them  there  was 
the  wonaertul,  half-known  world  about  us,  with  all  its 
witchery.  Even  if  I  had  them  at  home, 

"  I  could  not  bring  back  the  sea  and  the  sky  — 
It  sang  to  the  ear;  they  sang  to  the  eye," 

as  Emerson  says  in  one  of  his  loveliest  poems. 

We  are  lodged  in  the  dearest  and  quietest  little 
house.  You  pass  from  the  big,  bustling,  crowded 
hotel,  through  a  long  corridor  into  a  sunny  back  street; 
you  climb  a  flight  of  steep,  steep  steps  set  in  the  face 
of  a  wall  thirty  feet  high  ;  you  pass  under  an  arch- 
way of  cypress  into  a  bit  of  garden,  with  heliotrope 
bushes  higher  than  your  head,  banks  of  geraniums, 


ON  THE   WING.  89 

beds  of  cactus,  hedges  of  roses  and  jessamine,  and 
there  you  find  a  little  atom  of  a  house,  with  bay- 
windows  jutting  into  the  flowery  wilderness,  cool  and 
shady  and  altogether  delightful.  A  small  bit  of  para- 
dise ;  still  you  know  the  serpent  entered  even  there, 
so  it  is  not  out  of  the  way  that  we  should  have  private 
grievance.  But  worlds  would  not  buy  me  to  mention 
what. 

After  a  week  of  Los  Angeles,  it  resolves  itself  into 
a  sort  of  hybrid  town,  with  no  absolutely  distinct  point 
about  it,  except  the  always  wonderful  flowers.  In  the 
Spanish  quarter,  the  old  adobe  houses  lose  their  in- 
dividuality by  having  sloping,  instead  of  flat,  roofs, 
and  the  broad  streets  take  entirely  away  the  hot,  tropi- 
cal effect,  which  the  sun-dried  walls  had  in  El  Paso 
and  Santa  Fd.  They  look  here  more  like  common, 
small  tenement  blocks,  not  dirty  enough  to  be  pic- 
turesque, nor  clean  enough  to  be  decent.  The  chil- 
dren are  not  so  pretty,  and  the  women  more  slovenly 
than  those  we  saw  before  ;  still,  with  many  lovely 
faces,  the  soft,  dark  eyes  always  brilliantly  beautiful, 
with  a  clear  olive  tint,  and  a  fine  oval  in  the  outline. 
The  color  in  a  large  majority  of  the  people,  however, 
Is  quite  as  black  as  most  negroes ;  and  the  contrast 
between  the  fineness  of  the  sharp,  rather  thin  features, 
and  decidedly  ebon  skin,  is  most  marked. 

In  the  main  streets,  filled  with  a  very  Eastern  bustle 
of  traffic,  the  florid  style  of  architecture,  adorned  with 
a  flimsy  Western  efflorescence  of  jig-sawing,  and  fre- 
quently recurring  balconies  on  the  second  story,  give 
a  mongrel  aspect  to  the  otherwise  home-like  street. 


90  ON  THE   WING. 

The  stores  are  large  and  spacious,  with  whatever  we 
have  been  accustomed  to  look  upon  as  necessary  to 
comfort  and  well  being  in  their  broad  windows  ;  but 
with  now  and  then  a  bit  of  something  strange  to  make 
one  realize  the  four  thousand  miles  between  us  and  the 
sacred  intricacies  of  the  dear  home  city.  Outside  the 
meat  shops,  hang  on  lines,  thin,  long  strips  of  what 
appears  to  be  untanned  leather,  but  is  in  reality 
jerked  beef  drying  in  the  sun.  If  the  whirlwind  of 
flies  gathered  about  do  not  take  it  bodily  away  it 
will  probably  appear  again  on  some  of  our  Boston 
tea  tables  next  winter.  Against  the  doors  of  vegetable 
markets,  huge  strings  of  dried  peppers,  red  and  hot, 
appeal  to  the  quick  Spanish  temper,  as  red  and  hot  as 
themselves.  Festoons  of  the  same  lurid  vegetable 
line  the  walls  of  every  fruit  store,  while  the  broad 
plank  sidewalks  are  covered  with  cartloads  of  Northern 
and  Southern  fruits.  The  very  finest  cherries  we  ever 
saw  were  in  profusion,  but  dear,  while  lemons  and 
oranges  of  regal  size  went  begging.  Artichokes  and 
cauliflowers  seemed  to  grow  on  every  bush,  and  there 
was  no  limit  to  the  quantity  or  variety  of  vegetables 
of  all  kinds.  At  the  principal  stores  the  contents 
appeared  to  have  been  turned  inside  out,  so  much 
was  piled  outside,  while  wagons  with  country  produce 
stood  on  street  corners.  One  small,  rather  shabby, 
cross  town,  New  York  horse  car,  ambled  through  the 
middle  of  the  main  street,  but  the  people  seemed 
averse  to  it,  or  to  the  ten-cent  fare,  and  we  never  saw 
many  avail  themselves  of  the  privilege. 

Sometimes  in  crossing  from  one  principal  thorough- 


ON   THE   WING. 


91 


fare  to  another,  instead  of  a  side  street  there  would  be 
a  flight  of  steps  and -a  series  of  long  corridors  opening 
on  cool  court-yards,  with  splashing  fountains  in  the 
centre,  and  tall  calla  lilies  looking  at  themselves  in  a 
circle  round  the  quiet,  shadowy  basin.  It  was  in  this 
way  that  we  stumbled  once  upon  the  Public  Library,, 
with  a  pleasant  reading-room  and  well-filled  shelves.. 
We  found  some  illustrated  books  on  Colorado  and 
California,  surveys  and  travel  over  the  very  places  we 
had  just  come  across,  which  seemed  like  a  panorama  of 
our  whole  journey.  Except  by  some  members  of  our 
own  party,  it  did  not  seem  to  be  as  well  patronized  as 
it  deserved  ;  but  perhaps  this  is  not  the  literary  season 
in  California. 

Down  or  up  the  side  streets,  the  dearest  little  white 
houses,  tiny  as  children's  playthings,  made  to  look 
like  mansions  with  towers,  and  bay  windows,  and 
what  not,  stood  each  in  its  own  little  garden,  com- 
pletely covered  with  creeping  and  clinging  vines.  The 
people  are  particularly  partial  to  tall  cypresses,  cut  and 
trimmed  in  purely  conventional  forms  into  great  cones, 
or  round  flower  pots,  or  square  cubes,  —  the  most 
stilted,  unnatural,  depressing  trees  I  ever  looked  at. 
These  are  molded  into  archways,  and  set  in  every  con- 
ceivable spot  on  the  tiny  lawns,  almost  grotesquely 
disproportioned  to  the  size.  Why  they  should  choose, 
among  the  many  lovely  and  gracious  forms  which  so 
crowd  this  bright  world,  such  a  contracted,  dyspeptic,, 
funereal  form  of  vegetation,  only  the  law  of  contraries 
can  answer.  Every  house  has  its  porch,  large  or 
small,  where  the  family  sit  and  work  during  the  long, 


92  ON   THE   WING. 

pleasant  afternoons,  under  a  tangle  of  sweet  honey- 
suckles and  great  white  roses,  that  clamber  and  twist 
and  leap,  like  lovers  trying  to  reach  their  ladies'  lat- 
tices. And  always  the  strong,  sweet  perfume  of  the 
orange  groves — for  lemon  blossoms  are  scentless  — 
coming  and  going  on  the  warm  air,  and  making  one 
desire  that  all  senses  might  be  merged  in  one,  with 
the  nose  of  an  ancient  Roman  through  which  to  ex- 
ercise it.  Simply  to  breathe  that  indescribable,  deli- 
cious, balmly  air  was  happiness-,  i.  was  enough  to 
make  the  city,  as  its  beautiful  name  implies,  of  the 
Angels. 

Down  in  the  Chinese  section,  which  looked  as  dreary 
as  the  spot  devoted  to  social  pariahs  of  any  country 
must,  we  walked  once  toward  evening,  and  invested 
some  loose  change  in  a  little  shop  covered  with  hiero- 
glyphics, and  stuffed  with  barbaric  trifles.  Very  little 
that  was  new  to  our  blase  eyes  after  Zinn's  Parlors; 
the  same  crepe  monsters  for  pincushions,  the  same  in- 
evitable fans  and  umbrellas  and  embroidered  silks 
and  carved  ivories,  but  not,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  the 
same  modesty  in  regard  to  prices.  One  could  afford 
to  pay  something  extra,  however,  for  buying  from  a 
real  John  Chinaman  with  a  gorgeous  pigtail,  a  set 
of  the  most  perfect  teeth  ever  given  a  human,  and  a 
most  decided  opinion  on  the  crooked  mazes  of  Ameri- 
can politics.  He  mildly  but  decidedly  repelled  our 
sympathy  on  the  veto  question,  and  declared  that  "  the 
S'p'eme  Court  of  United  States  do  p'otect  yights  of 
eve'y  citizen  ; "  and  when  we  ventured  to  remark  that 
this  was  the  very  head  and  front  of  their  offending,  in 


ON   THE   WING.  93 

that  his  people  did  not  become  citizens,  but  made  their 
money  here  and  took  it  home  to  the  Flowery  Land  to 
spend,  he  gave  us  a  look  of  pitying  contempt  from  his 
slanting  Chinese  eyes  and  shook  his  bald  head.  He 
pressed  upon  us  with  energy,  as  much  energy  as  a 
Celestial  can  manage  to  devote  to  earthly  things,  some 
little  cabalistic  boxes  of  "pent  for  ladies;  ver  goot;. 
red  —  vite" —  which  we  finally  made  out  to  be  a  very 
fine  form  of  rice-powder  of  home  manufacture,  and 
presumably  pure.  Judging  from  the  city  streets,  they 
must  have  found  a  tremendous  market  for  this  in  Los 
Angeles,  for  nearly  every  white  women  we  met  was 
plastered  unmercifully  with  rouge  and  pearl  powder. 
This  appears  to  be  a  trait  among  all  southern  nations. 
We  visited,  with  a  special  note  of  introduction,  one 
of  the  very  largest  orange  groves  within  the  city  limits, 
where  over  a  hundred  acres  were  taken  up  with  fine, 
thrifty  trees,  and  warehouses  for  packing  fruit.  The 
proprietor's  house,  a  one-story,  f.at-roofed  adobe  build- 
ing, with  immensely  broad,  white  piazzas,  set  in  a 
pretty,  pri'n  flower  garden,  and  running  at  the  back 
around  three  sides  of  an  inner  placita,  was  charmingly 
cocl  p.rd  quiet;  a  grand  piano,  with  violin  and  guitar 
cases  near  it,  and  a  pile  of  music  on  a  small  table 
near  the  door,  made  the  deep-windowed  parlor  in- 
viting. A  bevy  of  dear  little  bright-eyed,  deep-tinted 
children,  who  were  tumbling  and  playing  in  true  baby 
freedom  among  the  flowers,  and  racing  up  and  down 
the  long  verandas,  brought  back  certain  groups  around 
the  little  house  at  Green  Hill  that  turned  me  heart- 
sick for  just  a  moment.  A  pleasant,  woody  smell  and 


94  °N  THE  WING. 

hammering  close  by  led  us  to  a  cooper's  shop,  where 
the  boxes  \.  ere  being  made  to  transport  piles  cf  £ruit, 
gathered  from  the  great  orchards  beyond,  and  con- 
stantly replenished  from  loaded  wagons.  A  large 
farm-house  at  cider-making  has  something  of  the  same 
liberality  about  it ;  only  that  apples,  for  all  their  ruddy 
and  russet  skins,  can  never  have  the  opulent  tropical 
glow  of  these  huge,  luscious  spheres.  In  the  midst 
of  his  men  the  master  stood,  picking  and  packing 
with  the  rest,  his  handsome,  dark  head  and  patriarchal 
beard  strikingly  like  the  Apostle  Paul  in  Raphael's 
St.  Cecilia.  The  long,  stately  rows  of  trees,  rounded 
and  beautiful,  for  an  orange-tree  is  one  cf  the  most 
symmetrical  in  the  whole  fauna,  stretched  far  into  the 
distance,  and  one  drove  for  hours  through  perfumed, 
shady  avenues,  in  a  half  drowsy  state  cf  bliss,  which 
resembled  semi-intoxication.  The  lavish  kind-hearted- 
ness of  the  people  crowded  us  with  stacks  cf  flowers 
and-beaps  of  choice  fruit  wherever  we  went,  so  that 
our  rooms  at  the  hotel  looked  more  like  a  floral  holiday 
than  an  every-day  world. 

Every  quarter  of  the  globe  appears  to  be  repre- 
sented in  this  strangely  populated  city,  but  principally 
Mexico  and  Ireland.  There  was  evidence  cf  this  in 
the  cathedral  where  we  heard  mass  ;  the  priest  making 
his  announcements  first  in  liquid  Spanish  and  after- 
wards in  a  pure,  sweet  Irish  brogue.  In  the  day- 
school  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  more  than  twenty 
countries  were  represented,  and  the  contrast  of  black, 
white  and  yellow  faces  was  extremely  curious.  The 
gentle  but  firm  rule  of  these  admirable  teachers, 


ON  THE  WING.'  95 

showed  to  advantage  in  the  good  results  obtained 
from  such  mixed  conditions.  The  children  seemed 
very  happy,  and  sang  one  or  two  English  school  songs 
with  pleasant  effect.  The  house  is  set  in  an  orange- 
grove,  with  a  wilderness  of  flowers  immediately  about 
it.  A  species  of  gorgeous  red  lily,  glowing  in  royal 
clusters  of  six  and  eight,  on  top  of  each  tall  stem,  the 
like  of  which  no  one  had  ever  seen  before,  grew  here 
in  profusion,  and  we  came  home  laden  with  treasures. 

I  can  hardly  fancy  any  one  rising  to  sublimely  great 
things  in  this  soft,  seducing  atmosphere.  One  needs 
inore  of  sting  and  sharpness  from  which  to  work  out 
the  fruits  of  adversity.  But  on  a  calm,  sunny  day, 
when  the  Coast  Range  is  showing  like  luminous  blue 
shadow  at  the  end  of  the  main  street,  and  the  nearer 
foot-hills  are  glowing  softly  in  green  and  gold,  when 
the  air  is  redolent  with  perfume  and  nature  garlanded 
with  flowers,  O,  if  one  had  only  every  one  she  loved 
about  her,  how  happy  she  could  be  in  Los  Angeles  ! 

Part  of  an  hour  by  rail  takes  one  to  Santa  Monica, 
the  Nantasket  of  Southern  California,  if  you  can 
imagine  Nantasket  devoid  cf  hurry  and  bustle  and 
fun,  sobered  by  the  beautiful  shadow  cf  the  mountain, 
changed  by  the  ultra-marine  color  of  the  water,  and 
full  always  of  a  thunder  cf  surf  which  breaks  with  a 
strong  under-tow  over  the  beach.  A  lovely  old  garden 
near  by  has  the  finest  specimens  cf  geraniums  our 
people  had  seen  yet,  and  store  galore  cf  such  jessamine 
and  pomegranites  as  can  only  be  met  here.  It  was 
in  another  garden,  old,  too,  and  exquisite  with  the 
wild,  willful  grace  which  only  time  lends  to  flowers, 


96  ON  THE  WING. 

that  we  found  fig-trees  with  the  nearly  ripe  fruit  hang- 
ing under  broad  leaves,  and  small  olives  just  beginning 
to  form.  We  found  mineral  water  there  also,  health- 
ful and  horrible,  so  that  the  beautiful  country  evidently 
has  another  element  of  future  greatness  upon  which 
to  fall  back. 

Through  the  principal  streets,  wide  and  unpaved, 
the  country  people  come  driving  with  a  team  of  stout 
horses,  and  a  strong  beach  wagon  well  filled  with 
buxom  wife  and  troop  of  healthy  children.  The 
women  drive  as  well  as  the  men,  with  a  dash  that 
seems  to  belong  to  the  Western  climate.  All  the 
trading  of  the  surrounding  country  is  done  here, 
which  accounts  in  part  for  the  immense  number  of 
stores  of  every  kind  in  proportion  to  the  houses.  The 
Chinese  have,  along  with  their  legitimate  occupation 
of  washing,  taken  up  that  of  market  gardening,  and 
bring,  in  hand -carts  and  small  wagons,  the  early 
vegetables  used  by  the  town  people.  There  is  no 
form  or  variety  of  these  which  does  not  grow  to 
perfection.  Cauliflowers  and  artichokes,  which  are 
dainties  to  us,  as  well  as  the  entire  list  of  early  spring 
produce,  are  piled  upon  the  sidewalks  or  packed  in 
the  small  open  stores  until  they  are  common  as 
potatoes.  It  looks  a  little  oddly  to  see  the  chamber- 
maid with  a  queue  and  pair  of  linen  pantaloons,  or  to 
hear  the  cooks  chattering  in  Chinese  patois  in  that 
high-spirited  manner  which  belongs  to  cooks  all  over 
the  world.  But  they  certainly  work  well,  and  their 
kitchens  look  neat  as  new  -pins.  The  people  have 
the  real  Calif ornian  dislike  to  the  race.  It  is  com* 


ON  THE  WING.  97 

plained  that  they  are  saucy,  untruthful,  and  exceedingly 
secretive  ;  harsh  to  children  and  intolerant  of  any  call 
at  unusual  times.  I  am  afraid,  however,  that  the  last 
two  attributes  are  not  confined  to  Ah  Sin  or  Wah 
Lee,  in  the  rose-bowered  cuisines  of  Los  Angeles, 
but  that  they  are  possessed  in  full  force  by  their 
co-laborers  of  Commonwealth  avenue  and  Beacon 
street.  It  is  hardly  fair  to  blame  one  people  for  the 
sole  possession  of  the  little  leaven  which  leavens  the 
whole  lump  of  humanity.  We  are  still  unused  to  the 
prejudices  of  the  country,  and  a  little  taken  aback  by 
the  contempt  shown  the  Mongolian  on  all  sides.  Small 
children  pull  their  queues  with  mighty  jerks  in  the 
street,  or  jump  on  the  square  toes  of  their  wooden 
shoes,  or  fling  dust  in  their  faces,  with  as  much  un- 
concern as  if  they  were  brazen  images  instead  of 
ordinary  flesh  and  blood  ;  and  any  remonstrance  on  a 
stranger's  part  is  taken  with  a  pitying  shrug  for  his 
simplicity,  and  the  reassuring  formula,  "  Why,  it 's 
only  a  Chinaman  "  !  as  if  that  explained  everything. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

A   CALIFORNIAN    STAGE-RIDE. 

WE  left  Los  Angeles  toward  sunset,  and  came 
down  the  lovely  valley  between  the  foot- 
hills of  the  Bernardino  Range,  while  the 
shadow  of  a  great  storm-cloud  hung  about  the  moun- 
tain tops.  Here  and  there  in  rifts  the  sunshine  fell 
on  yellow  fields  of  wild  mustard,  and  mile  after 
mile  of  brilliant  scarlet  and  orange  cactus  blossoms. 
Tall  spikes  of  white  yucca  lilies,  growing  on  slim, 
straight  stems  like  pyramidal  clusters  of  silver  cande- 
labra, ten  or  twenty  feet  high,  added  greater  novelty  to 
a  scene  already  novel  enough,  and  gave  us  another 
glimpse  of  the  resources  of  California  in  flowers. 
Long  wisps  of  a  brilliant  saffron-colored  grass  or 
moss  were  tangled  in  the  tall  sage-bushes,  and  shone 
like  flame  in  the  low  evening  light.  Besides  all  this 
was  the  inexplicable  home-feeling  of  finding  ourselves 
once  more  in  the  cars,  vis-a-vis  with  the  old  familiar 
faces.  It  is  extraordinary  how  great  a  change  has  taken 
place  in  this  regard  since  we  left  Boston.  Then,  the 
train  was  the  embodiment  of  discomfort,  the  neces- 
sary evil  to  be  borne  for  .the  sake  of  the  good  to  which 
it  was  leading  us.  But  now,  no  matter  how  pleasant 
the  stopping-place,  nor  how  great  its  restful  luxury, 
the  cars  are  emphatically  home.  In  them  we  fall  into 


TOO  ON   THE   WING. 

those  easy  lines  of  least  resistance,  that  gossipy  free- 
dom of  a  common  household,  that  happy  unrestraint 
which  makes  the  charm  of  one's  ain  f.reside.  If 
familiarity  even  breeds  a  little  animosity  now  and 
then,  it  only  makes  the  resemblance  greater.  What 
would  home-life  be  without  an  occasional  love-spat ! 
So  that  altogether  this  evening  was  one  of  tranquil 
delight — but  the  morning  made  up  for  it. 

The  traveller  who  desires  to  enter  the  Yosemite 
with  his  natural  dispositions  undisturbed  by  angry 
passions,  and  his  receptiveness  unspoiled  by  a  rank- 
ling sense  of  injustice,  had  better  by  all  odds  tele- 
graph beforehand  to  the  starting-point  from  the  mil- 
road,  and  have  his  place  taken  on  the  regular  stages. 
These  accommodate,  on  the  Madera  route,  just  twenty- 
two  persons  daily;  the  remainder  wait  over  fcr  an- 
other day,  if  they  are  sensible;  they  take  an  extra,  if 
they  arc  fools.  An  extra,  means  crowding  and  discom- 
fort; it  means  poor  horses,  and  few  of  them  ;  it  means 
no  relays  and  all  sorts  of  hitches;  it  means,  f.nally, 
taking  two  days  for  one  day's  journey,  and  wasting 
more  whip-lash  and  misusing  more  Scriptural  language 
in  the  course  of  forty-eight  hours,  than  was  ever  ac- 
complished in  the  same  time  before.  If  there  is  any 
other  discomfort  that  can  be  added  to  the  natural  list 
of  weariness,  dust,  or  mud,  it  is  naturally  thrown  in  r:> 
an  extra  also,  but,  for  a  wonder,  without  additional 
charge ;  every  other  item  you  pay  for. 

Probably  no  party  ever  entered  the  trail  leading  to 
the  valley  under  more  depressing  circumstances  l!i:.n 
ours.  The  wretched  car  porter,  moved  by  that  ani- 


ON  THE  WING.  IOI 

mosity  which  seems  to  be  the  leading  principle  of  his 
race,  roused  us,  in  the  midst  of  a  barren,  flat  plain, 
absolutely  devoid  of  even  a  semblance  of  vegetation, 
at  five,  when  seven  would  have  done  just  as  well.  For 
fifty  miles  we  passed  only  an  occasional  desolate- 
looking  settlement  of  unpainted  wooden  shanties,  and 
no  other  sign  of  life.  Human  nature  naturally  rebels 
against  early  rising;  the  world  is  at  sixes  and  sevens,  -~:^ 
like  any  other  housekeeper  before  nine  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  Even  the  remarkably  good  breakfast  \ve 
found  ready  at  the  hotel  was  not  able  to  soothe  our 
ruffled  spirits.  Immediately  after,  we  were  packed 
like  sardines  into  a  jerky,  narrow,  old-fashioned  wagon, 
and  after  creeping  ten  miles  over  a  plain,  with  a  fume 
like  a  gigantic  caterpillar  sixty  miles  long,  crawling 
into  the  mountains  at  one  side  of  it,  the  driver  cooly 
informed  us  that  we  were  to  have  no  change  of  horses, 
and  were  to  sleep  at  Coarse  Cold  Gulch  that  night, 
instead  of  going  through  to  Clark's.  The  sting  of  this 
injustice  rankled  in  our  hearts  like  a  barbed  arrow 
that  every  jolt  of  the  springless  vehicle  drove  deep 
and  deeper.  There  was  no  redress  possible,  which 
added  insult  to  injury;  and  the  driver  could  not  be 
made  to  understand  how  much  we  ought  to  be  pitied, 
which  was  the  final  ounce  that  broke  the  camel's 
back.  To  one  who  has  a  real  grievance,  there  is 
nothing  so  annihilating  as  to  have  any  one  else  refuse 
to  acknowledge  it.  To  cap  the  climax,  the  rain,  which 
we  had  been  laughed  at  for  predicting,  began  to  come 
down  in  torrents ;  and,  according  to  the  summer  cus- 
tom, every  awning  and  curtain  had  been  stripped  from 


102  ON  THE   WING. 

the  carriage  some  weeks  before.  Rain  on  top  of  a 
stage-coach  is  always  bad  enough ;  but  rain  sleeting 
on  unprotected  heads  and  shoulders,  whose  rightful 
umbrellas  and  waterproofs  are  packed  in  trunks  hun- 
dreds of  miles  away,  because  their  owners  have  been 
brow-beaten  into  believing  that  they  won't  need 
them — aye,  there's  the  rub. 

The  amount  of  antagonism  the  average  mind  can 
engender  under  such  circumstances  is  simply  terrific; 
and,  under  all  this  dead  weight  of  temper  and  turbu- 
lence, we  were  trying  to  see  the  Yo  Semite.  And 
when  the  "  I  told  you  so  "  of  officious  friends  came  to 
mind,  as  it  always  does  in  similar  conditions,  we  were 
as  near  madness  as  people  usually  get. 

The  much-abused  driver,  who  really  had  no  part  in 
this  pretty  little  quarrel,  as  he  was  simply  obeying 
orders,  vainly  tried  to  interest  us  in  his  patient  team: 
"  Them  horses  know  more  'n  we  think  for,"  said  he ; 
"they've  got  their  hitches  an'  feelin's  jest  like  any  on 
us ;  there 's  Skylight,  that  off  leader,  he 's  got  sech  a 
ambition  for  goin'  that  he'll  pull  the  flesh  off  his 
bones  when  there  ain't  no  need  on  it.  Now  there's 
Snowflake  wouldn't  draw  a  settin'  hen  off  her  nest — • 
Git  up,  Snowflake  !  Durn  it,  hev  more  spirit!  Chub, 
here,  she 's  a  queer  'un ;  you  swar'  at  her  and  hit  her 
a  clip,  an'  she  jest  throws  up  the  sponge ;  but  chirp 
her  up  a  little  and  sort  o'  tickle  her,  this  way,  an'  she 
goes  for  all  she's  wuth,  every  time.  Yes 'm,  they 've 
got  to  be  humored  jest  like  you'n  me  sometimes,  an' 
don't  you  forgit  it."  I  must  do  the  poor  man  the 
tardy  justice  of  saying  that  he  bore  our  ill-temper 


ON  THE  WING.  103 

with  the  patience  of  Job,  and  was  much  more  lenient 
than  we  deserved  to  find  him. 

He  was  a  bright,  cheery,  talkative,  small  person, 
full  of  pleasant  quips  and  cranks,  rich  in  anecdote, 
and  determined  always  to  keep  the  best  foot  foremost. 
It  hurt  his  feelings  more  than  our  own,  to  be  obliged 
xto  lash  his  tired  animals,  but  there  was  no  other  mode 
of  progression  possible.  He  deserved  a  better  "fare," 
than  our  discontented  car-load ;  but  Christianity,  after 
eighteen  hundred  years,  has  not  yet  been  able  to 
teach  her  children  how  to  bear  imposition  without 
storming,  and  laying  on  the  shoulders  of  the  wrong 
man,  when  they  cannot  reach  the  right  one,  —  which 
is  our  excuse  for  sinning  against  him. 

It  was  only  at  evening,  when  a  little  bit  of  paradise 
opened  before  us,  in  smooth  grain  fields  level  as  an 
English  lawn,  with  a  few  superb  oaks  and  pines,  set 
singly  like  the  arrangement  of  a  park,  and  beautiful 
mountains  covered  with  forests  sloping  gently  down 
to  the  edge  of  a  rapid  rushing  brook,  that  we  became 
again  reconciled  to  fate.  After  a  plentiful  supper, 
with  the  very  best  omelet  souflee  a  Chinese  cook  ever 
made,  we  went  out  to  see  a  gold  and  purple  sunset 
blaze  over  the  western  summits  and  fill  the  east  with 
rosy  flushes  before  the  tender  lingering  twilight  folded 
the  broad  piazza  and  small  cottage  ;  and  realizing  then 
that  we  had  been  spared  twenty-six  miles  more  of 
jerking  and  jolting,  we  began  to  allow  ourselves  to  be 
sedately  happy.  The  little  wooden  house  was  kept  by 
a  German  family,  with  seven  or  eight  fair- haired, 
placid-faced  children,  who  seemed  to  have  preserved 


104  ON  THE   WING. 

the  easy  Teutonic  formulas  of  life  as  perfectly  here  as 
if  they  were  still  at  home  in  Deutchland.  But  it  was 
not  until  next  night,  at  Clark's,  that  we  really  got  into 
harmony  with  the  place  we  were  coming  to.  Under 
any  other  circumstances,  it  would  have  been  a  delight 
to  go  through  these  lovely  spots.  The  road  winds  in 
a  thousand  sharp  curves  around  and  between  the 
mountains,  fringed  with  wonderful  trees,  and  at  every 
moment  a  fresh  vista  opens.  Exquisite  little  glades, 
green  and  smooth  as  a  meadow,  with  groups  cf  shrub- 
bery, round  and  perfect  as  art  could  make  them,  show 
at  each  turn.  Delicate  fronds  of  white  lilac,  frail 
and  ethereal  as  frost  flowers  and  fragrant  as  orange 
blossoms,  fill  the  air  with  delicious  perfume;  groups 
of  tall  spray-like  yellow  roses,  called  for  some  obscure 
reason  leather-brush ;  clumps  of  large  white  dogwood 
blossoms,  and  brilliant  clusters  of  Manzanita,  their 
vivid  maroon  velvety  stems  showing  like  ribbons 
between  the  fine,  small  leaves  of  pale-green  ;  all  these 
were  arranged  as  in  a  pleasant  garden,  and  in  most 
luxuriant  condition. 

Between  them  now  and  again  came  a  white  oak, 
the  bark  ribbed  like  alligator  hide,  the  magnificent 
foliage  massed  in  solid  green,  or  the  slender,  spray- 
like  needles  of  young  pines  or  cedars.  The  succession 
of  these  lovely  vistas  and  green  knolls  is  as  charming 
as  unexpected,  and  you  realize  at  last  what  it  is  that 
has  been  wanting  to  the  loveliness  of  the  lower  coun- 
try, in  which  trees. have  always  been  small  and  few. 
Gradually  as  the  day  wears  on,  the  character  of  the 
landscape  changes.  The  precipices  are  wilder  and 


ON   THE  WING.  105 

higher;  the  oaks  fewer;  enormous  pines  and  cedars, 
growing  constantly  larger,  usurp  the  place  of  all  other 
trees.  The  undergrowth  begins  to  increase  until  the 
ground  is  covered  with  one  tangled  mass  ;  wild  flowers 
disappear;  more  ruggedness  creeps  into  the  beauty; 
under-branches  of  trees  begin  to  grow  bare  and  with- 
ered, or  are  covered  with  fine,  bright,  yellowish  moss. 
For  the  last  five  or  six  hours  one  passes  through  the 
immense  growths  of  this  celebrated  country;  the  trees 
towering  120,  150,  sometimes  200  feet;  overhead  a 
solid  mass  of  foliage  through  which  flickering  sun- 
light and  dappled  shadows  fall;  while  beneath,  like 
vast  cathedral  aisles,  the  bare,  giant  trunks,  stretch  in 
every  direction.  These  are  the  woods  which  were 
God's  first  temples,  and  in  them  still  lingers  the  in- 
cense breath  of  prayer  and  praise. 

Clark's  is  a  lovely  spot ;  we  drove  with  a  last  spurt 
of  our  jaded  horses  and  a  last  rattling  crack  of  the 
driver's  worn-out  whip  up  to  the  front  door,  through  a 
drove  of  three  thousand  sheep  and  lambs,  which  their 
Chinese  herders  were  trying  to  force  across  the 
Merced.  It  had  the  effect  of  a  ship  tossing  on  a  rest- 
less sea,  and  was  picturesque  after  we  had  passed  them. 
But  I  would  as  soon  not  return  to  our  muttons.  The 
pleasant  noise  of  a  saw-mill  mingles  with  the  rushing 
river  which  turns  its  wheel,  and  small  logs,  as  logs  go 
here,  from  four  to  six  feet  in  diameter,  wait  their  turn 
in  the  yard.  A  pet  fawn  comes  up  and  slips  his 
slender  nose  into  your  hand,  as  you  walk  about  in  the 
delicious  air,  stretching  your  legs  after  the  long, 
cramped  drive ;  down  the  long  slope  the  fresh  night 


106  ON  .THE   WING. 

breeze,  half  inspiration,  half  lullaby,  comes  stealing; 
the  moon  climbs  across  the  deep-blue  horizon,  and  we 
grow  to  be  conscious  that  the  charm  of  the  place  is 
upon  us.  The  house  is  so  built  that  every  room,  both 
above  and  below  stairs,  opens  on  a  balcony,  which 
gives  a  sense  of  airiness  and  freedom  not  often  found 
in  finer  houses.  There  are  great  fireplaces  in  each  of 
the  parlors,  full  at  this  time  of  the  year  with  a  glow  of 
blazing  logs.  I  could  not  shake  off  a  feeling  that  we 
were  near  home,  among  the  White  Mountains,  in  the 
entrance  hall  of  the  Profile  House,  and  that  a  few 
hours  might  bring  us  back  to  the  people  we  loved. 

The  drive  from  Clark's  was  a  repetition  of  the  best 
points  of  the  day  before.  We  had  glorious  weather; 
a  sky  like  Colorado;  an  air  brilliant  and  odorous  ;  a 
succession  of  wonderful  gorges  and  deep  ravines, 
that  kept  delight  constantly  on  tiptoe,  and  a  glorious 
team  of  six  fine  horses,  with  a  roomy  stage.  We  had 
a  grizzled  Scotchman  for  a  driver,  canny  and  kind, — 
an  old  forty-niner,  with  a  get-up  like  McKee  Rankin's 
in  the  play, — who  knew  the  pedigree  of  every  head  in 
his  stock,  and  had  more  yarns  about  the  valley  legends 
than  would  fill  a  volume.  We  listened  with  great 
interest  to  the  account  of  Cocoanut-John,  the  "nigh 
leader's "  rheumatiz,  and  Billy  T.  and  Emigrant,  the 
two  "  Swing's,"  little  peculiarities.  It  was  such  a 
luxury  to  have  that  dreadful  whip  silent,  and  not  feel 
that  Bergh  should  be  telegraphed  to  on  account  of 
the  poor  worn-out  creatures,  that  our  spirits  rose  to 
concert  pitch. 

The  curves  and  precipices  grew  swifter  and  steeper; 


ON  THE  WING.  107 

the  beautiful,  tall,  symmetrical  trees,  straight  as  ar- 
rows, shot  into  the  air;  the  swaying  stage  rocked  up 
and  down  dizzy  mountain-sides  at  every  gait  from  a 
snail's  pace  to  a  mad  gallop ;  we  grew,  as  usual,  un- 
conscious of  danger,  and  half  inebriated  with  its 
nearness ;  for  the  breaking  of  a  trace,  the  swerving 
of  a  foot,  the  slipping  of  a  screw,  would  launch  the 
whole  equipage  into  space,  like  a  bolt  from  a  cross- 
bow. I  cannot  tell  what  mental  exhilaration  takes 
possession  of  one  and  puts  fear  so  far  away  that  even 
those  who  are  cowards  by  nature  lose  sight  of  it;  but 
respectable  people  who  get  out  of  barges  going  up 
the  twenty-foot  slope  of  Green  Hill  at  home,  and 
would  consider  it  suicide  to  drive  up  a  higher  eleva- 
tion, dins:  to  their  seats  here  like  acrobats,  and  would 

'  o 

like  to  urge  the  flying  horses  taster! 

Suddenly  across  the  clear  sapphire  of  the  sky  a 
long,  trailing  cloud  floated  like  a  white  feather  toward 
the  zenith ;  suddenly,  again,  another  and  another  came 
tumbling  upon  it,  until  in  less  than  twenty  minutes  we 
were  in  the  midst  of  a  skurrying  mountain-storm  of 
pelting  rain.  Beloved  people  three  thousand  miles 
away  who  dream  of  California  as  a  land  where  the 
sun  shines  without  a  frown  or  tear  to  mar  its  placid 
loveliness  for  months  together,  and  who  are  taught  to 
believe  that  the  wall  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  inter- 
poses a  rainless  barrier  between  earth  and  heaven, 
take  heed  and  warning!  Bring  your  rubbers  and 
your  gossamers  and  your  strongest  umbrellas ;  never 
go  out  without  them  any  more  than  you  would  in 
England ;  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  the  amiable  idiots  who 
tell  you  anything  to  the  contrary,  and  make  up  your 


108  ON  THE  WING. 

sensible  mind,  once  for  all,  that  though  God  certainly 
might  make  a  mountainous  country  rain-proof,  yet  He 
certainly  never  has  ;  then  you  won't  come  to  grief  or 
dampness,  and  your  temper,  as  well  as  your  travelling 
suit,  will  be  unspoiled. 

It  was  about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  We 
had  been  travelling  for  nearly  three  days  through  a 
country  of  such  stupendous  wildness  and  utter  deso- 
lation as  left  the  soul  at  once  subdued  and  uplifted. 
Except  at  the  two  little  dining-stations,  the  sheds 
where  horses  were  changed,  and  a  few  small  settle- 
ments on  the  flats,  there  had  been  no  sign  of  human 
life  or  habitation  through  the  entire  distance.  The 
sense  of  isolation  from  the  outer  earth  was  so  pro- 
found that  it  seemed  as  if  weeks  had  elapsed  since 
the  shrieking  engine  had  torn  its  way  across  the  plain 
at  Madera,  and  left  us,  untried  explorers,  at  the  outer 
walls  of  this  new  world. 

At  last,  after  one  final,  sharp  turn,  that  took  even 
our  experience  by  surprise,  we  came  to  the  bare  edge 
of  a  mighty  precipice  and  halted.  We  were  on  In- 
spiration Point.  Around  us,  the  pelting  rain  still 
poured  heavily  ;  above,  the  black  storm-cloud  hung  in 
low  folds  almost  upon  the  tree  tops,  but  toward  the 
west,  its  jagged  edges  were  lifted,  and  a  bit  of  clear 
sky  blazed  like  a  sapphire  through  dull  gray.  One 
shining  white  cloud  floated  across  this  glowing  blue, 
and  through  it  the  afternoon  sun  poured  a  flood  of 
dazzling  light  into  the  Valley !  The  Valley  which  was 
the  end  of  our  dreams  and  hopes,  towards  which  un- 
consciously our  hearts  had  been  turning  through  all 
the  changes  of  the  long  journey,  with  which  we  had 


ON  THE   WING.  109 

been  blindly  comparing  every  scene  that  approached 
sublimity  before  !  Dropped  at  our  very  feet,  and 
clothed  in  such  fair  proportions  of  majesty  and  beauty 
as  ma:le  it  more  a-spiritual  joy  than  an  earthly  loveli- 
ness, it  rested,  silent  and  set  apart,  as  if  human  eyes 
for  the  first  time  beheld  it;  wrapped  in  a  veil  of  softr 
purple  mist,  that  made  it  seem,  in  spite  of  its  near- 
ness, like  a  vision  that  would  fade  while  we  gazed.  In 
front,  El  Capitan,  erect  and  fearless,  as  became  the 
warden  of  the  magic  world  beyond,  lifting  its  barer 
white  front  three  thousand  feet  in  one  superb  perpen- 
dicular line  from  base  to  summit ;  opposite,  the  soft- 
falling,  swaying  foam  of  the  falls  bounding  nearly  a 
thousand  feet  through  the  air  before  it  struck  the 
broken  rocks  below ;  beyond  the  rounded  curves  of 
the  Three  Graces,  the  sweeping  line  of  the  South 
Dome,  and  far-away  the  veiled  summit  of  Cloud's 
Rest,  piled  with  soft,  gray  shadows.  A  broken  line  of 
shining  water  came  like  a  silver  thread,  showing  here 
and  there  in  the  depths  of  the  lovely  valley,  and 
broadened  into  a  small  mirrored  lake  almost  at  our 
feet  below.  It  was  —  if  I  have  used  the  same  words 
before,  forgive  me — beyond  conception  and  utterance. 
The  sense  of  solitude,  of  peace,  and  of  an  inspiration 
which  sprang  from  both  was  so  profound  as  to  be 
oppressive.  Even  the  most  frivolous  spirits  among- 
us  were  struck  with  sudden  calm,  as  if  they  stood  at 
the  portals  of  some  divine  mystery,  and  it  was  with  a 
feeling  almost  of  relief  that  we  turned  away  at  last, 
and  went  zigzaging  down  the  dreadful  slope  of  the 
dizzy  mountain  to  enter  in  at  the  gates  below. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  GREAT  GRIZZLY  BEAR. 

THE  last  two  miles  of  the  descent  into  the 
valley  was  much  the  worst  bit  of  trail  we 
had  come  to  in  the  whole  hundred  miles  of 
staging.  The  curves  were  so  desperately  abrupt 
where  the  Z  shaped  road  turned  back  upon  itself,  that 
the  noses  of  our  leaders  were  actually  over  the  preci- 
pice before  they  could  swing  themselves  around,  and 
a  faint,  sickening  dread  that  the  entire  team  would 
follow  their  noses  kept  one  in  a  constant  state  of  per- 
turbation. But  still,  as  we  looked  from  one  side  or 
the  other  into  the  beautiful  depths  below,  the  feeling 
that  it  was  good  to  be  here  overwhelmed  every  other, 
and  it  was  with  a  sort  of  mute  admiration  that  we 
drove  at  last  up  the  winding  valley  road,  under  boughs 
still  wet  and  shining  from  the  recent  storm.  Every 
stain  of  dust  had  been  wiped  away,  and  nature  was 
freshly  garlanded  to  greet  us.  Behind,  deep-muttering 
thunder  still  went  on  like  salvos  of  artillery  echoing 
from  crag  to  crag;  before,  the  yellow  sunshine  sun 
poured  down,  casting  long  shadows  across  the  grass, 
and  weaving  rainbows  through  pale  mists  which  were 
flying  high  up  in  the  rocky  ramparts.  We  were  in  a 
narrow  cleft,  between  straight  walls  of  pale,  gray  stone 
which  towered  thousands  of  feet  above,  cutting  the 


112  ON   THE   WING. 

clear,  blue  air  in  myriad  forms  of  domes  and  spires  and 
sudden,  sharp  angles.  All  sense  of  proportion  is  lost 
in  the  immensity  of  dimension ;  one  becomes  stupefied 
at  last  with  the  blunders  made  in  guessing  heights  and 
distances,  and  maintains  a  discreet  silence.  Glimpses 
through  the  trees,  as  well  as  a  rushing  sound  of 
waters,  proclaim  the  approach  to  the  Bridal  Veil 
Falls,  and  soon  the  driver  halts  to  allow  a  nearer  view 
of  the  foam-tangled,  swaying,  snowy  cataract,  which 
bursts  like  a  white  fury  from  the  rocks  above  to  the 
rocks  below.  Its  muffled  roar  makes  the  silence  of  the 
spot  only  more  impressive.  The  curving  road  goes 
on  bending  more  toward  the  river,  where  the  rapid 
current  of  the  Muscat  and  its  brilliant  green  color 
reminds  one  of  the  rapids  above  Niagara.  A  bridge 
spans  the  swift  stream  on  the  left,  where  a  path  leads 
toward  El  Capitan,  which  looks  down  still  from  its 
mighty  elevation,  its  giant  outline  changed  now  to 
that  of  some  waiting  Sphinx  looking  with  unseeing 
eyes  toward  the  future.  At  a  certain  point  you  are 
asked  to  look  at  a  silhouette  of  the  Wandering  Jew 
etched  on  the  face  of  the  cliff;  but,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  any  healthy  imagination  can  make  scores  of  such 
pictures  at  every  new  hundred  feet  of  scarred  and 
weather-beaten  wall.  As  one  point  fades,  another 
opens ;  the  snowy  summit  of  Cloud's  Rest  drops  out 
of  sight  behind  To-coy-ae;  the  Three  Brothers  lift 
their  heads  from  under*  the  shadow  of  the  Great 
Chief  of  the  Valley ;  the  Virgin  Lung-oo-too-koo-ya 
drops  her  slender  pearly  tears  from  her  cloud  eyrie ; 
high  on  the  right  the  Sentinel  disputes  your  path ; 


ON  THE   WING.  113 

while  far  to  the  left,  his  long,  bright  fleece  trailing 
behind  him,  the  Large  Grizzly  Bear  himself, -the  Great 
Yo  Semite,  plunges  three  thousand  feet  through  the 
air  in  three  mad  bounds,  and  clashes  himself  to  pieces 
on  the  rocks  beneath.  This  is  the  most  satisfying  of 
all  the  wonderful  cataracts  of  this  wonderful  valley ; 
even  its  voice  is  more  sonorous  and  deeper  than  any 
in  the  entire  circuit  of  the  hills.  Mingled  with  its 
constant,  deep-mouthed  roar  come  irregular  detona* 
tions  like  the  far-off  rattling  of  musketry,  or  like  the 
deep  recurrent  beat  of  the  ocean  against  a  stormy 
coast,  when  the  under-tow  beats  broken  pebbles 
about,  and  the  sweeping  tide  thunders  now  and  again 
against  the  great  rocks.  Twenty  times  that  first  night 
after  entering  the  Valley,  I  was  conscious  of  that 
satisfying,  omnipresent  tone ;  and,  deliciously  tossed 
between  sleeping  and  waking,  imagined  myself  at 
home  in  the  little  house,  with  a  nor'-easter  beating  the 
wild  Atlantic  into  fury  before  the  door. 

Meantime,  as  we  still  drive  on,  the  beautiful 
emerald  river  is  flowing  swiftly  through  cool,  moist 
meadows  by  our  side,  and  patches  of  firs  at  the 
base  of  our  fortress  walls  begin  to  fall  somewhat  in 
shadow.  We  pass  the  long,  low,  white  cottage  and 
outbuildings  at  Cook's,  lovely  though  the  spot  is,  and 
go  on  to  H.  H.'s  little  cottage  by  the  river  up  above, 
to  a  tiny  chamber  whose  window  opens  directly  on 
both  river  and  fall.  A  belt  of  oaks  and  alders,  shim- 
mering all  day  above  the  swift  stream,  is  all  that 
separates  you  from  the  lofty  peak  of  Eagle's  Rest, 
down  the  front  of  which  tumbles  the  sweeping  water- 


114  ON  THE  WING. 

fall.  You  can  sit  at  your  small-paned  casement  and 
drink  in  its  beauty  from  early  morn  to  dewy  eve; 
better,  still,  you  can  lie  in  bed  at  night  and  see  the  sil- 
ver spangles  of  moonlight  fall  in  phosphorescent  flakes, 
as  it  tosses  airily  downward.  The  tree  that  shades 
your  narrow  balcony  has  its  roots  in  the  stream,  and 
the  eddying,  rippling  flow  fascinates  you  as  a  sea-coal 
fire  would  on  a  winter  night.  The  air  is  thrilling  with 
bird  notes  and  fragrant  with  sweet-briar  and  wild 
jessamine  ;  there  are  familiar  faces  on  the  weather- 
beaten  porch  of  the  small  cottage  opposite ;  the  world 
is  brimming  over  with  the  fresh  beauty  of  May-time, 
and  you  are  in  the  heart  of  the  Yo  Semite,  shut  out 
by  its  white  walls  from  the  tumult  and  greed  and 
wickedness.  Can  life  offer  anything  more?  Alas  for 
contentment !  Could  any  walls  lower  than  heaven 
itself  shut  out  love  and  longing?  We  sigh,  even 
here,  for  the  clinging  arms  of  the  blessed  babies. 

For  the  first  four  days  after  entering  the  valley,  we 
took  no  note  of  time.  It  was  enough  to  sit  silent  and 
satisfied,  and  let  the  wonderment  and  glory  sink  into 
our  souls,  so  that  through  all  aftertime,'  while  time 
should  last  for  us,  there  might  be  some  clear,  blissful 
memory  of  it  left.  We  simply  looked  and  listened. 
Could  anyone  speak  in  presence  of  such  a  preacher? 
But  we  were  moved  occasionally  beyond  the  power 
of  Christian  endurance,  at  sight  of  the  restless,  hurry- 
ing, foolish  people,  who,  tired  and  worn  with  the  long 
journey  to  the  gates,  and  untouched  by  the  awful  sub- 
limity within,  were  bent  upon  "doing"  the  valley. 
We  grew  to  hate  these  words  with  such  exceeding 


ON  THE  WING.  Il£ 

hatred,  as  made  us  desire  blindly  to  behead  every  one 
who  uttered  them.  Wildly  rushing  from  point  to  point, 
up  this  trail  and  down  that  woodpath,  here  at  five  in  the 
morning,  and  there  until  six  at  night,  always  anxious 
and  unsatisfied,  and  tired  and  footsore, — how  we  did 
pity  the  foolish  virgins  who,  in  grasping  for  many 
things,  lost  the  one  only  needful !  To  see  the  agony, 
so  poorly  hidden  behind  a  sickly  smile,  on  the  middle- 
aged  faces,  unused  to  this  kind  of  grimacing,  that  went 
ambling  or  cantering  by  on  the  patient  steeds  every 
morning !  To  listen  to  the  doleful,  pathetic  account  of 
nerves  and  feelings  after  the  same  faces,  with  more 
agony  and  less  smile,  had  come  back  in  the  evening. 
The  heroism  of  Joan  of  Arc,  the  self-sacrifice  of  Flor- 
ence Nightingale,  the  determination  of  Catherine  of 
Russia,  and  the  resignation  of  the  women  of  Lucknow, 
all  combined  and  boiled  down,  are  not  a  circumstance 
to  the  immolation  of  any  woman  over  forty,  who  for 
the  first  time  in  her  life,  mounts  a  horse  to  scale  one  of 
these  mountain  peaks.  She  bears  the  moral  scars  of 
her  victory  on  her  face  for  days.  She  is  afraid  of  the 
horse,  she  is  afraid  of  the  precipices,  she  is  afraid  of 
herself;  heaven  and  earth  seem  to  be  passing  away  as 
she  begins  to  climb,  and  to  have  passed  altogether 
when  she  begins  to  descend.  Every  muscle  is  wrenched 
by  the  effort  to  hold  back  or  lean  forward ;  every 
nerve  is  tortured  by  the  strain  of  enduring  and  the 
dread  of  horrors  to  come  ;  the  poor  farce  of  a  guide  a 
hundred  feet  off,  with  four  or  five  houses  between, 
being  of  help,  if  her  animal's  fore  feet  slip  or  hind  feet 
stumble  over  the  edge  of  the  trail,  is  so  apparent,  and 


Il6  ON  THE  WING. 

the  idiocy  of  her  ever  having  made  the  attempt  so 
patent,  that  she  would  give  the  world  for  the  relief  of 
a  good  cry  if  she  could  only  get  down  and  have  it  out. 
And  all  because  fashion  prescribes  a  certain  mode  of 
procedure.  You  may  be  gifted  with  good  legs  and 
honest  lungs,  a  sound  heart  and  clear  head,  but  you 
must  not  use  them  in  climbing.  It  is  not  according 
to  Hoyle.  They  say  that  you  will  be  tired  and  lame 
and  unstrung  for  days  after.  But  I,  I  who  speak  to 
you,  do  give  you  my  word  of  honor  that  you  will  have 
three  times  the  physical  weariness  and  five  times  the 
nervous  strain  after  you  have  done  the  same  thing  on 
horseback. 

I  do  not  speak  from  experience ;  no,  dear  madame. 
I  speak  from  observation,  which  is  always  a  cheaper 
and  often  a  wiser  teacher.  The  stories  which  were 
poured  into  our  pitying  ears  night  after  night  by  the 
unfortunates  who  had  run  the  gauntlet  were  quite 
enough  to  keep  any  sane  woman  out  of  it.  We  sat 
quiet,  as  I  say,  for  days,  until  some  of  the  spirit  of 
the  place  had  entered  into  us,  and  then  began  to  walk. 
First  into  the  foam  and  fury  at  the  foot  of  the  Great 
Falls,  where  drenched  with  spray  and  wild  with  exul- 
tation, we  could  be  shaken  by  every  falling  throb  of 
the  wonderful  power  before  us.  Then  about  the 
valley,  with  a  climb  here  and  there  for  a  fern  or  a  leaf 
or  flower,  and  a  perfect  understanding  of  the  times 
for  lunch  and  dinner.  Then  to  Mirror  Lake,  to  see 
the  sun  rise  over  the  arch  of  the  rocky  wall  five  thou- 
sand feet  above,  while  we  followed  his  reflection  in 
the  cool,  placid  depths  of  the  water  below,  and  tried 


ON  THE  WING.  117 

to  imagine  we  saw  the  double  refraction.  Then  grown, 
bolder,  with  lunch,  knapsack  and  waterproof — and 
don't  you  forget  it  —  strapped  on  back,  to  Glacier 
Point  and  down  again  the  same  day,  shaken,  tired,  but 
supremely  happy.  So  it  went  on.  We  did  not  see, 
perhaps,  for  want  of  time,  as  many  separate  views  ; 
we  did  not  have  a  guide  to  tell  us  the  name  of  every 
boulder  we  tipped  over,  or  every  point  we  glanced  at ; 
but  we  learned  our  lessons  by  heart,  as  well  as  eye- 
sight, and  those  are  the  teachings  remembered  longest. 
The  formation  of  the  valley,  inclosed  within  those 
lofty  walls  which  drop  apart  as  if  some  infinite  might 
had  cleaved  them  in  twain,  and  in  the  rent  between 
set  this  bit  of  sylvan  beauty,  with  its  stream  of  living 
waters,  its  deep,  fragrant  meadows  and  over-arching 
trees,  is  something  stupendous  and  terrible.  Mighty 
barriers  fill  all  the  horizon,  set  straightly  between 
earth  and  heaven;  you  can  scarcely  imagine  a  world 
outside  it.  The  leaping  water-falls  pouring  over  the 
top  of  this  awful  barricade  seem  as  if  sprung  from 
some  mysterious  source;  it  is  only  when  half-way 
skyward,  on  some  dizzy  mountain-trail,  that  one  sees 
rising  beyond  the  snowy  heights  which  supply  those 
eternal  fountains.  But  from  the  floor  of  the  valley 
there  is  no  hint  of  anything  beyond  or  above.  The 
narrow  strip  of  sky,  full  hour  by  hour  of  changing 
cloud  effects,  paints  the  grayish-white  surface  of  rock 
with  as  many  tints  as  the  moonstone.  Sometimes  it 
is  black  as  night ;  sometimes  white  as  snow ;  some- 
times full  of  a  sinister  and  awful  calm;  sometimes 
broken  into  a  thousand  shifting  bits,  which  almost 


Il8  ON   THE   WING. 

seem  to  move  while  one  looks  at  them.  The  place  is 
a  mine  of  optical  illusions.  Lean  back  against  the 
sheer  wall  of  El  Capitan  and  look  upward  :  you  are 
the  centre  of  a  semi-circular  arch,  which  seems  to 
project  hundreds  of  feet  above  and  in  front  of  you. 
Cross  from  the  middle,  the  little  strip  of  land  between 
the  base  of  the  mountains,  which  looks  in  all  and  at 
most  a  few  hundred  yards,  and  you  will  walk  a  mile 
before  reaching  either  side.  Try,  as  I  said  before,  to 
guess  the  height  of  any  one  of  the  peaks,  or  points, 
or  waterfalls,  and  you  will  sit  up  all  night  to  be 
ashamed  of  your  crooked  judgment,  unless,  like  me, 
you  are  wise  enough  to  despise  statistics.  What  good 
does  it  do  you  to  know  a  thing  is  three  thousand  or 
six  thousand  feet  high,  when  you  have  no  more  idea 
than  the  man  in  the  moon  of  how  high  three  or  six 
thousand  feet  is  ?  Of  course,  I  could  explain  by  say- 
ing it  is  fifteen  or  thirty  times  as  high  as but  no, 

I  will  most  positively  not  drag  Bunker  Hill  monument 
again  into  the  Yo  Semite  Valley :  it  has  been  done  too 
often  already.  And  if  I  should  give  you  the  entire 
table  of  altitudes  set  out  in  fair  Arabic  numerals,  what 
better  idea  would  you  have  of  the  glory,  the  grandeur, 
the  utter  wonder,  of  this  entrancing  spot  ?  Pictures 
have  given  you  some  warped  impression  of  its  out- 
line. Any  school-boy  in  the  country  will  tell  you  that 
it  is  nine  miles  long,  and  from  one  to  two  miles 
wide ;  that  its  perpendicular  walls  are  nearly  a  mile 
in  sheer  precipices  set  around  it ;  that  the  moun- 
tains surrounding  average  four  or  six  thousand  feet, 
and  that  waterfalls  burst  in  tangled  skeins  of  silver 


ON  THE  WING.  119 

from  every  crevice  of  the  rock.  But  neither  school- 
boy nor  school-master  can  tell  you  anything  more,, 
until  your  own  eyes  bring  it  home  at  last  to  your  own. 
soul,  as  I  sincerely  hope  they  may. 

We  stopped  at  Barnard's  hotel,  if  four  little  cot- 
tages, two  by  the  river-side  and  two  opposite  among; 
the  rocks,  can  be  called  by  such  a  dignified  title. 
The  chambers  are  no  bigger  than  a  steamboat  state- 
room ;  the  ceilings  are  made  of  cotton  cloth;  the 
walls  are  covered  with  bright  paper,  and  the  floor  with 
a  hand's-breadth  of  carpet;  there  is  a  wholesome- 
straw-bed  and  a  feather-pillow,  plenty  of  bed-clothes,, 
and,  candor  compels  me  to  confess,  of  mosquitoes. 
You  can  have  unlimited  water  and  towels  on  your 
small  washstand,  and  there  is  a  healthy,  hard  pine 
chair,  if  you  desire  to  sit  down.  There  is  no  lock  on 
your  door,  and  no  key,  if  there  were  one  ;  the  sun 
comes  by  day,  and  the  silent  stars  peep  at  night  into 
the  hallway,  with  its  open  doors  at  front  and  back,  for 
the  thoroughfare  through  the  house  is  as  open  as  the 
grassy  path  before  it.  It  is  primitive  as  primitive 
can  be,  therefore  in  harmony  with  the  wild  nature 
around  it.  One  sitting-room  has  been  built  around 
the  base  of  a  tree  ten  feet  in  diameter,  whose  top 
waves  in  the  sunshine  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above 
the  lowly  roof.  Whatever  fine  flavor  is  needed  to 
make  its  homely  but  plentiful  fare  palatable,  is  given 
by  the  wonderful  picture  of  the  swift-flowing  riverr 
and  the  glorious  beauty  of  the  great  falls  outside  the 
•windows  of  the  clean,  plain  dining-room.  By  and  by 
some  vandal  will  come  and  buy  Mr.  Barnard  out  ; 


120  ON  THE   WING. 

then  there  will  go  up  a  five-story  monstrosity  of  a 
fashionable  house,  with  electric  bells  and  set  wash- 
bowls, hair  mattresses  and  modern  airs.  And  we  will 
thank  our  lucky  stars  that  we  came  in  before  the 
innovations ! 

We  strolled  over  the  plank-walk  laid  across  the 
meadows  to-night,  in  a  veritable  twilight  of  the  gods, 
while  day  faded  slowly  up  the  stupendous  heights  and 
the  long-lingering  shadows  crept  close,  like  dusky 
lovers,  embracing  the  beautiful  valley.  Coming  back 
a  little  later,  we  saw  the  full  moon  rise  five  times  in 
fifteen  minutes  from  behind  one  peak  after  another. 
And,  now,  one  side  of  the  valley  lifts  mountainous 
walls  of  ebon  blackness  into  the  starlit  sky,  while  the 
other  is  shining  as  in  transfiguration;  the  falls  are 
radiant  as  an  avalanche  of  snow;  the  river  lies  like 
a  sheet  of  molten  silver;  while  the  trees,  every  leaf 
and  twig,  touched  into  microscopic  distinctness,  are 
reflected  as  in  a  Claude  Lorraine  mirror.  Serene  in 
its  stern  grandeur,  with  the  very  soul  of  solitude  at 
rest  on  its  lofty  battlements,  and  the  cold  moonlight 
heightening  its  most  awful  beauty,  it  is  the  picture 
I  would  like  to  take  away  in  my  heart  forever  of  the 
Yo  Semite. 


CHAPTER   X. 

A    CLIMB    THROUGH    THE    CLOUDS. 

THE  walk  to  Glacier  Point,  or  rather  the  climb, 
for  there  are  not  two  consecutive  steps  of 
level  ground  in  the  whole  of  it  with  one  small 
exception,  was  the  most  brilliant  achievement  of  our 
fives.  We  started  early  in  the  morning,  an  hour  be- 
fore the  sun  had  got  down  into  the  valley,  and  thus 
escaped  much  of  the  heat  and  dust  which  are  so 
terrific  later.  The  constantly  changing  path  gave  a 
succession  of  exquisite  views  as  we  mounted  higher 
and  higher,  looking  now  up,  now  down  the  ravine. 
One  by  one,  familiar  landmarks  came  in  sight ;  one 
t>y  one  others,  unknown,  appeared  beyond  them,  until 
the  whole  mountain  canon  was  before  us  with  one 
pale-blue  line  of  summits  closing  it  at  either  end. 
The  windings  of  the  Merced  showed  themselves  in  all 
their  curving  beauty,  cultivated  fields  looked  like 
squares  on  a  checker-board,  the  great  herd  of  horses 
m  the  yard  behind  the  stables  dwindled  to  sizes  like 
the  animals  in  a  child's  ark,  and  the  stables  themselves 
like  houses  in  a  toy  village.  Gradually,  behind  the 
Yosemite  Fall,  which  has  always  looked  before  as  if 
dropped  out  of  the  blue  sky,  with  no" tangible  earthly 
foundation,  a  range  of  tumbled  peaks  began  to  rise 
which  looked,  later  on,  as  we  stood  on  the  highest 


122  ON   THE   WING. 

point,  like  a  plateau  of  mountains  stretching  out  to  an 
infinite  distance.  The  winding  cavalcade  of  mounted 
knights  and  dames,  some  brave,  some  pallid,  all  a  little 
anxious,  passed  us  near  the  end  while  we  were  munch- 
ing frozen  snow  from  a  crevice  in  the  rocks  and 
enjoying  the  view  from  the  last  turn.  I  never  was  so 
sincerely  thankful  for  anything,  in  the  course  of  a 
moderately  long  life,  as  that  I  was  not  on  one  of  those 
winged  steeds,  especially  as  two  or  three  turned  their 
stupid  heads  to  look  over  the  precipice,  as  if  they 
were  meditating  suicide.  The  path  was  so  hard  and 
steep  that  I  would  not  at  all  wonder  to  see  the  poor, 
tired  creatures  take  this  easy  way  of  reaching  the 
pleasant  pastures  below,  when  it  comes  to  going  down. 
The  last  few  hundred  yards  are  through  a  grove  of 
trees,  stately  and  beautiful,  with  mountain  brooks 
flowing  between,  and  the  unpainted  walls  of  a  large 
frame  house  showing  like  a  welcome  in  the  distance. 
By  this  time,  although  you  have  become  somewhat 
used  to  the  ascent,  and  learned  the  logic  of  resting 
for  a  moment  at  every  dozen  steps,  the  continued 
strain  has  begun  to  tell  on  the  faithful  calves  which 
have  carried  you  so  nobly,  and  it  is  with  content  deep 
and  inexpressible  that  you  cross  through  the  dining- 
room  of  the  little  house  and  throw  yourself  into  one 
of  the  rocking-chairs  on  the  narrow  piazza  in  front. 
Such  a  delicious  resting-place,  and  such  a  wonderful 
sight !  For  you  have  come,  as  it  were,  to  the  gates 
of  another  country  than  the  one  left  behind.  Here 
is  once  more  that  loveliest  of  all  earthly  things,  a 
snowy  range,  stretching  on  either  hand  till  it  fades 


ON  THE  WING.  123 

in  the  distance;  here  is  Cloud's  Rest,  with  a  floating 
veil  of  trailing  gray  across  it;  here  is  South  Dome 
rising  in  tremendous  bold  majesty,  overtopping  every- 
thing else  in  its  imposing  nearness  ;  and  here  is  the 
beautiful  line  of  the  Nevada  and  Vernal  Falls,  show- 
ing from  this  elevation  like  one  continuous  sweep  of 
cataract  and  rapid,  as  it  tumbles  between  the  trees  on 
its  headlong  way  down  the  canon.  The  soft  haze 
which  distance  weaves  about  the  farther  summits  gives 
a  dreamy  effect  of  immense  distance,  and  intensifies 
the  expression  of  wonderful  distinctness  and  clearness 
in  the  nearer  atmosphere.  Far  beyond, 'to  the  right,, 
the  most  beautiful  point  of  the  whole,  to  which  they 
have  given  the  name  of  one  who  so  loved  God's  world 
as  to  be  counted  one  of  its  prophets,  Mt.  Starr  King 
rises;  the  Little  Yosemite  fills  the  middle  distance; 
and  farthest  of  all,  where  the  faint,  remote  peaks  melt 
into  the  dim  horizon,  some  one  shows  you  where  the 
Lost  Valley  rests.  How  I  would  like  to  stay  here  a 
year  and  a  day  until  I  found  it  again  ! 

A  path  to  the  left  through  the  woods,  leads  to  an 
overhanging  ledge,  something  like  table-rock  at  Niag- 
ara, but  on  an  immense  scale,  which  commands  a 
view  of  the  entire  valley  as  it  lies  like  a  map  three 
thousand  two  hundred  feet  below.  A  slight  iron 
balustrade  is  all  that  protects  the  dizzy  height ;  and 
leaning  far  out  and  over,  we  hurl  great  rocks  down 
only  to  see  them  whirled  inward  and  out  of  sight 
before  they  have  fallen  half  the  distance,  some  under- 
current of  air  scooping  them  toward  the  base  of  the 
cliff.  A  small  moving  speck,  as  large  as  a  walnut, 


124  ON   THE    WING. 

resolves  itself  through  the  glasses  into  a  country  team 
passing  on  the  river-road,  and  the  pools  running  up 
toward  Mirror  Lake  flash  like  a  necklace  of  diamonds. 
One  feels  as  if  in  the  centre  of  a  great  silent  world, 
with  the  first  hush  of  creation  yet  upon  it. 

Just  behind  us  sat  a  quartette  of  young  New  York 
girls,  or  belles,  —  every  New  York  young  girl  is  a 
belle  by  right  divine,  I  believe,  —  who,  with  the  un- 
awed  instincts  of  their  race,  rattled  on  in  the  usual 
high  American  key  about  the  merits  of  their  respective 
bootmakers.  They  could  not  quite  ignore  the  scenery, 
nor  could  they  waste  all  their  time  in  looking  at  it, 
while  the  preeminence  of  Louis  Quinze  or  Louis 
Quatorze,  in  the  matter  of  French  heels,  was  still 
undecided.  Their  innocent  babble,  which  would  have 
been  exhilarating  in  any  other  place,  pointed  as  it  was 
by  punctuation-marks  made  by  the  prettiest  feet  in  the 
world,  and  charming  little  bursts  of  light-hearted 
confidences,  seemed  just  a  little  out  of  place  in  the 
broad,  serene,  magnificent  amphitheatre  they  had 
chosen  to  make  a  shoe-shop  of.  But  there  is  no 
accounting  for  tastes.  If  some  people  would  rather 
have  French  heels  and  table  d'hote  on  Fifth  avenue, 
to  the  wild  witchery  of  nature  and  the  sour  bread  of 
the  Valley  inns,  why,  let  them.  I  'd  take  the  dinner 
of  herbs  and  the  dusty  boots  any  time. 

Looking  at  the  South  Dome  from  this  point,  its  bald 
summit  lifted  6,200  feet  into  the  air,  a  sheer  precipice 
of  naked  rock  on  one  side  for  the  last  thousand  feet, 
it  seems  absolutely  inaccessible.  It  has  been  reached, 
however,  by  means  of  a  rope,  which  some  first  daring 


ON   THE   WING.  125 

spirit  left  fastened  to  a  support  above,  and  by  steps 
cut  into  the  perpendicular  cliff,  up  which  the  dizzy 
climber  toils  and  clings,  fastened  by  other  ropes,  to 
the  waist  of  the  guide  in  front.  When  we  remember 
the  slight  young  girl  living  in  the  valley  below,  who 
told  so  simply  last  night  of  having  twice  accomplished 
this  wonderful  feat,  a  thrill  of  positive  terror  shivers 
through  us.  Daughter  of  one  of  the  pioneer  fami- 
lies, living  almost  from  childhood  in  the  shadow  of 
this  awful  majesty,  it  must  be  that  some  unknown 
strength  of  love  and  pride,  born  of  long  intimacy  with 
this  wonder  world,  sustained  her  slender  wrists  in  that 
terrible  upward  struggle.  Ordinary  nerves  could  never 
vitalize  ordinary  muscles  to  such  an  extent. 

A  touching  incident  which  brought  the  sad  tender- 
ness of  human  interest  home  even  to  this  wild,  remote 
spot,  which  looks  in  its  isolation  as  if  set  apart  from 
the  happenings  of  ordinary  life,  was  related  by  this 
same  young  girl.  One  of  her  sisters  had  an  intimate 
friend  in  one  of  the  two  or  three  neighboring  fami- 
lies, which,  with  their  own,  make  up  the  entire  settle- 
ment. There  existed  between  these  two  an  uncommon 
union  of  sentiment  and  feeling;  they  explored  together 
the  wildest  spots,  until  every  inch  of  the  valley  had 
been  made  familiar  to  their  eager  eyes ;  they  worked, 
studied,  and  dreamed  together,  and  lived  in  that  un- 
selfish devotion  so  often  found  between  two  ardent 
girls,  and  so  rarely  elsewhere.  Gifted  beyond  their 
surroundings,  they  were  the  ornament  of  the  little 
community,  and  leaders  of  every  social  gathering. 
Suddenly,  and  without  seeming  cause,  one  of  these 


126  ON   THE    WING. 

bright,  active,  healthy  lives,  weakened  and  faded;  and 
before  her  fair  face  had  been  a  month  under  the  snow 
of  her  wintry  grave,  her  friend  was  laid  beside  her. 
It  was,  except  for  an  infant  lost  before,  the  first  time 
death  had  come  to  the  valley,  and  its  shadow  was  still 
upon  the  stricken  hearts  of  its  people  when  we  spoke 
with  them.  In  every  family  within  the  circle  of  the 
mountain  walls,  the  names  of  these  two  dear  girls, 
coupled  as  they  always  were  together,  was  a  household 
word  of  love  and  longing. 

We  were  loth  to  leave  the  wonders  of  this  upper 
world.  Every  instant  a  new  surprise  met  us  in  some 
view  lovelier  than  the  last,  and  we  were  annoyed  to 
find  that  if  properly  informed  below,  we  could  have 
arranged  to  stay  all  night  on  the  summit  and  see  the 
glories  of  sunset  and  sunrise  from  this  eyrie  in  mid 
air.  It  would  have  been  like  a  new  heaven  and  new 
earth  freshly  created  for  our  ravished  eyes,  but  the 
conservative  policy  of  the  inn-keepers  in  the  valley  had 
prevented  any  knowledge  of  it,  so  we  were  obliged 
reluctantly  to  turn  our  faces  downward.  I  put  the 
information  here,  that  later,  happier  mortals  may  make 
use  of  it,  and  think  of  me  when  they  come  into  their 
kingdom. 

We  started  on  the  descent,  unfortunately,  about  two 
o'clock :  the  very  hottest  time  of  the  hottest  day  of 
the  year.  The  trail  was  four  inches  deep  with  soft, 
dry  dust ;  the  sun  glowed  like  a  carbuncle  against  the 
shining,  hot  rock  into  which  the  path  was  cut ;  the 
air  blew  as  if  from  the  fiery  depths  of  tophet;  our 
Alpen  stocks  would  not  catch  in  the  light,  fluffy, 


ON   THE   WING.  127 

powdery  soil;  and  we  tore  with  giant  strides  down  the 
mountain  sides,  inflamed  by  turns  with  heat  and 
admiration,  until  we  were  sights  to  behold.  Anything 
so  tremendous  as  this  oven-like  temperature  it  had 
never  been  my  lot  to  experience  before.  The  sultriest 
August  dog-day  that  ever  wrapped  New  England  in 
perspiration  was  a  bit  of  cool  comfort  compared  to  it. 
Fortunately,  there  were  no  lookers-on  in  Vienna  to 
see  our  discomfiture.  We  did  not  learn  until  later 
that  sunstroke  is  unknown  in  this  climate,  so  that  we 
were  tortured  by  dread  as  well  as  discomfort;  and 
two  happier  people  than  those  who  sat  at  last  by  the 
tub  near  the  little  spring  in  the  valley,  ladling  the 
cool  water  in  handfuls  over  face  and  head,  it  would 
be  hard  to  meet. 

One  of  the  blessings  which  sometimes  come  in  the 
guise  of  misfortunes,  kept  us  in  the  valley  some  days 
longer  than  we  had  originally  expected,  and  left  us 
grow  into  a  little  closer  acquaintance.  It  is  madness 
to  take  so  severe  a  trip  as  that  required  to  get  into 
the  Yosemite,  without  staying  there  at  least  a  week. 
Two  or  three  days  only  to  bask  in  the  delight  of  such 
a  masterpiece  of  unearthly  beauty  and  then  tear  one's 
self  away  from  it  for  a  possible  forever,  is  too  tanta- 
lizing for  human  nature  to  bear  with  any  sort  of 
equanimity.  Like  Niagara,  or  other  places  of  like 
magnificent  proportion,  it  requires  time  to  see  things 
as  they  really  are.  It  is  impossible  for  days  to  believe 
that  heights  are  as  lofty,  within  hundreds  of  feetMas 
their  actual  dimensions.  But  day  by  day  the  stupen- 
dous sizes  grow  while  you  look  at  them,  and  if  one 


128  ON    THE   WTNG. 

could  only  remain  long  enough  to  shake  off  outside 
ideas  of  distance,  I  really  believe  the  summits  cf  those 
white  climbing  walls,  bare  and  inaccessible,  mounting 
into  the  still,  blue  air,  would  seem  at  last  to  reach 
heaven. 

We  had  the  one  day  of  a  thousand  in  which  to  leave 
this  haunting  spot,  a  day  so  perfect  that  its  very  mem- 
ory is  bliss.  The  large  dewdrops  were  still  shimmer- 
ing on  the  grass,  for  the  sun  rises  on  the  heights 
hours  before  it  strikes  the  narrow  path  by  the  river 
below,  and  the  shadows  linger  till  late  in  the  morning. 
We  had  a  new  driver,  and  a  new  team,  chief  of  whom 
were  Strawberries-an '-Cream,  and  Nicodemus,  and  the 
way,  after  one  last,  long,  lingering  look  from  Inspira- 
tion Point,  and  climbing  the  four  miles  to  the  summit 
beyond,  we  tore  down  those  mountain  passes,  was 
almost  too  wild  for  comfort.  We  bounded  in  our 
seats  like  India  rubber  balls  in  the  hands  of  an  Eastern 
juggler;  the  wretched  people  inside  were  tossed  and 
tumbled  until  they  were  bruised  from  head  to  foot ; 
but,  like  the  famous  ride  of  Horace  Greeley  over 
some  of  these  same  slopes,  our  coachman  was  bound 
to  get  us  there  on  time.  "  Old  Dowse,"  the  other 
driver,  with  six  horses,  was  just  ahead  of  us  with  five 
minutes'  start;  a  stern  chase  is  always  a  long  one, 
but  our  man  would  have  broken  our  necks  and  his 
own  twenty  times  over  before  he  would  have  been 
two  minutes  behind  his  "pard"  in  getting  into  port. 
It  is  not  the  first  time  we  needed  a  special  Provi- 
dence, and  found  it,  but  I  trust  it  may  be  the  last. 

We  picked  a  couple  of  enormous  pine  cones,  six- 


ON  THE   WING.  129 

teen  or  eighteen  inches  long,  to  take  home  for  the 
babies,  and  would  have  liked  to  attempt  one  of  the 
snow-plants,  those  beautiful  spires  of  waxy  carmine, 
in  which  leaf,  stem  and  blossom  is  the  same  vivid, 
intense,  transparent  color,  only  that  every  one  assured 
us  it  would  be  impossible  to  preserve  it.  Even  if  it 
were  not,  it  would  never  be  so  beautiful  again  away 
from  its  proper  resting-place,  so  that  comforted  us. 
At  Clark's,  twenty-five  miles  away,  we  made  a  detour 
to  reach  the  big  trees,  and  spent  a  memorable  after- 
noon looking  at  those  freaks  of  nature.  A  ball  of 
twine,  which  you  unwind  for  ninety  or  a  hundred  feet 
to  measure  one  Grizzly  Giant,  makes  you  believe  the 
size  you  can  never  understand  otherwise.  The  driver 
points  to  a  spot  a  few  hundred  yards  at  one  side, 
where  a  hand's-breadth  seems  to  have  been  cut  in 
another  enormous  trunk,  and  tells  you  that  it  is 
Wawona,  through  which  the  coaches  drive.  It  requires 
the  full  force  of  the  solid  fact  that  your  twelve-pas- 
senger team  with  its  four  horses  fits  easily  under  the 
arch,  even  with  the  Big  Boy  on  top,  before  you  begin 
to  realize  that  it  is  possible.  To  talk  of  trees  thirty 
feet  in  diameter  is  one  thing,  to  see  them  another* 
The  tremendous  disproportion  between  length  and 
breadth,  which  makes  them  even  when  two  hundred 
feet  in  height,  look  stumpy;  the  queer,  straggling,  ugly 
foliage,  the  peculiar  color  and  formation  of  the  three- 
foot-thick  bark,  combine  to  make  them  more  objects  of 
curiosity  than  things  of  beauty,  especially  in  a  country 
filled  with  the  exquisite  symmetry  of  the  graceful 
yellow  pine  and  white  oak. 
9 


130  ON   THE   WING. 

They  are  named  for  individuals  and  states.  We  took 
off  our  hats  with  a  Harvard  "  rah  "  to  imposing  old 
Massachusetts,  and  did  the  usual  honors  of  the  place 
in  buying  bark  and  bits  of  wood.  They  will  do  to 
trim  the  little  house  by  the  sea. 

From  Clark's  down  to  the  valley  fifty  miles  beyond, 
the  beautiful  wild  flowers  began  again.  Such  exqui- 
site and  delicate  things  I  never  saw  before.  There 
was  one  we  called  the  Cashmere  Lily  for  want  of  a 
better  name,  which  had  on  the  inside  of  its  creamy 
petals  a  spot  of  rich,  deep  coloring  like  the  figure  in 
an  India  shawl.  We  absolutely  revelled  in  the  fra- 
grance and  exquisite  perfection  of  these  lovely  un- 
known blooms,  and  for  want  of  better  uses,  trimmed 
our  old  coach  until  it  looked  like  a  marriage-bell.  It 
was  not  until  we  struck  the  hot,  dusty  line  of  the 
lower  plain  that  we  really  became  roused  to  the  dis- 
comfort of  our  situation.  In  and  from  the  valley  there 
were  no  longer  those  useful  bits  of  printed  paper 
inside  Russia  leather  covers,  to  save  us  from  discom- 
fort ;  we  had  got  out  of  the  region  where  Raymond 
coupons  took  care  of  us,  and  were  obliged  to  take 
care  for  ourselves.  As  a  natural  consequence  we 
came  to  grief.  I  will  not  speak  of  our  woes  beyond 
one  earnest  appeal  to  those  who  will  come  here  after- 
ward, to  make  assurance  doubly  sure  that  they  are 
given  a  regular  seat  in  a  regular  stage,  not  a  .place  on 
an  extra,  nor  one  that  obliges  them  to  ride  backward. 
They'll  have  to  fight  and  they'll  have  to  struggle,  but 
they  must  insist;  and  for  Heaven's  sake  let  them  not 
believe  anybody,  anybody,  even  if  they  look  like  dea- 


ON   THE   WING.  131 

cons  and  have  their  hands  on  the  Bible.  Lying  is  as 
natural  to  California  as  gold  mines.  Or  rather,  we 
won't  call  it  lying.  The  imagination  of  the  people 
assumes  the  same  proportions  as  everything  else,  and 
they  make  false  statements  without  being  conscious 
of  it. 

Such  a  coach-load  of  draggled  and  dirty  beings  as 
alighted  at  that  hot  little  inn  at  Madera  never  filled  a 
stage  before.  We  were  copper-colored  as  Digger 
Indians;  we  were  hot  (the  thermometer  was  at  116 
degrees);  we  were  hungry;  we  were  filthy;  it  would 
take  keen  eyes  to  recognize  respectable  people  in 
such  a  group  of  tramps.  What  I  have  always  be- 
lieved in  regard  to  human  nature,  that  it  is  equal 
to  great  things  even  when  it  fails  in  petty  troubles, 
proved  itself  here.  We  conquered  in  the  strife  with 
weariness,  and  had,  between  opera  singing,  conun- 
drums and  stories,  a  jolly  day.  If  we  had  rested  on 
our  laurels  long  enough  to  have  realized  how  miser- 
ably unhappy  and  unfortunate  we  were,  we  would  have 
died  decently  rather  than  have  kept  up  such  a  strug- 
gle ;  but  New  England  grit,  and  a  little  Irish  humor 
which  always  comes  in  as  a  forlorn  hope,  bridged  us 
over.  But  if  every  discomfort  had  been  increased  an 
hundred-fold,  if  we  had  been  jolted  until  our  poor 
flesh  were  black  and  blue  from  head  to  foot,  if  we  had 
been  evaporated  by  heat  until  only  enough  mortal 
body  was  left  to  hold  the  soul,  if  we  had  been  broken 
and  bruised,  pestered  and  tormented  up  to  the  farthest 
of  human  endurance,  we  would  bear  it  all  again  will- 
ingly, joyfully,  eagerly,  for  one  glimpse  of  that  en- 


132  ON  THE  WING. 

chanted  valley,  resting  in  its  supernal  beauty  amid  the 
solitude  and  silence  of  the  everlasting  hills.  For 
aches  shall  pass,  and  dust  and  tribulation,  but  the 
memory  of  that  exceeding  loveliness  will  be  part  of 
our  lives  through  all  the  days  of  all  the  years  here- 
after. There  is  really  no  reason,  however,  why  any- 
one not  a  confirmed  invalid  should  not  be  able  to  make 
the  trip  with  perfect  ease,  by  simply  arranging  pro- 
perly at  first. 

The  regular  coaches  are  exceedingly  roomy  and 
hung  on  good  springs;  both  horses  and  drivers  are 
used  to  their  work  and  go  at  it  earnestly ;  their  roads 
are  excellently  well  kept,  and  clever  pieces  of  engineer- 
ing skill ;  there  are  good  meals  to  be  had  on  the  way, 
and  clean,  comfortable  resting-places;  and  anyone  who 
dreads  the  first  seventy-five  miles  of  staging  in  one 
day,  can  divide  it  on  the  Madera  route  by  stopping 
over  night  at  Coarse-gold  Gulch.  If  one  takes  no 
extra  baggage  to  make  care  for  themselves  and  dis- 
comfort for  everybody  else,  beyond  the  indispensable 
shawl-strap  or  hand-satchel;  if  a  light  gossamer  water- 
proof and  rubbers  are  kept  in  a  convenient  pocket, 
whence  they  can  be  made  available  at  a  moment's 
notice ;  if,  above  all,  they  carry  with  them  that  happy 
disposition  to  make  the  best  of  things  and  ignore 
trifles  — without  which  no  one  should  ever  attempt  to 
travel  beyond  a  horse-car  line  —  they  can  go  to  the 
Yosemite  without  any  fear  of  consequences.  There 
is  neither  undue  fatigue  nor  dangerous  excitement  to 
be  dreaded ;  exceeding  care  has  reduced  the  chances 
of  accidents  to  the  very  smallest  proportion ;  and  the 


ON  THE   WING.  133 

beautiful,  wonderful  way  which  leads  up  through  the 
mountains  to  the  entrance  of  the  valley,  fills  one  with 
such  ever-increasing  delight  as  makes  ordinary  weari- 
ness unfelt.  Especially  in  May,  when  the  rainy  season 
is  not  yet  long  enough  over  to  make  the  country  dusty 
or  vegetation  parched,  and  the  melting  snows  on  the 
mountain  tops  fill  the  great  waterfalls  with  a  mighty 
overflow,  while  neither  great  heat  nor  great  cold  are 
likely  to  torment  the  traveller,  is  the  world  at  its  best 
for  making  this  excursion.  But  while  the  short  season 
is  available,  no  tourist  should  ever  leave  California 
without  making  a  desperate  effort  to  avail  himself  of 
the  wonder  and  glory  for  all  future  time  of  seeing  the 
Yosemite.  It  is  like  quitting  London  before  one  has 
stood  within  the  shadowed  aisles  of  Westminster,  or 
coming  back  from  Italy  without  having  entered  within 
the  gates  of  the  Eternal  City. 

We  slept  in  the  berths  of  the  palace-car,  rather  than 
in  the  hot  rooms  of  the  hotel  —  where  we  got  never- 
theless an  exceedingly  good  supper  —  and  woke  in  the 
morning  twenty  miles  away,  with  a  delicious  cool 
breeze  blowing  through  the  windows. 

Soon  the  Sacramento  began  to  roll  its  muddy  cur- 
rent by  the  side  of  the  road ;  long  reaches  of  over- 
flowed meadow-land,  with  ruminant  kine  knee-deep  in 
cool  waters,  and  large,  lovely  white  herons  flapping  on 
slow  pinions  over  the  trees,  to  their  nests  in  the  tall 
reeds,  made  the  landscape  picturesque  to  our  unused 
eyes.  On  the  opposite  side,  far  away,  Mount  Diablo 
rose.  Yellow  lupin  blossoms  for  the  first  time  made 
the  land  beautiful.  Indeed,  the  prevailing  color  of  the 


134  ON  THE  WING. 

wild  flowers  through  the  whole  of  California  is  yellow, 
as  if  the  golden  treasure  below  painted  with  its  own 
tint  the  delicate  petals  that  lift  themselves  into  the  sun- 
shine above  it.  Among  their  roses,  too,  the  Marechal 
Neil  and  Gold  of  Ophir  transcend  all  the  others  in  regal 
magnificence  of  size  and  beauty.  We  were  obliged 
to  put  on  warm  wraps  and  shut  out  the  draughts,  so 
soon  does  this  strange  air  change.  We  were  nearing 
San  Francisco. 


CHAPTER  XL 

WITHIN  THE  GOLDEN  GATE. 

THE  same  immensity  which  seems  to  pervade 
nature  in  California,  the  amplitude  of  resource 
which  bears  visible  fruit  in  the  magnitude 
of  her  people's  conceptions  and  ideas,  shows  itself 
down  even  to  such  small  affairs  as  billheads  and  side- 
walk posters.  The  depot  in  Oakland,  which  is  really 
the  San  Francisco  terminus  of  the  Central  Pacific, 
coming  either  from  the  North  or  South,  is  one  of  these 
immense  growths.  For  size,  brightness,  and  airiness, 
it  is  a  model  structure;  but  I  think  the  gigantic  car- 
toons upon  its  walls,  the  massive  oil-paintings  setting 
forth  the  superior  virtues  of  Domestic  sewing-machines 
or  Clark's  cotton,  cf  this  haberdasher,  or  that  cigar- 
maker,  impressed  us  more  than  the  building  itself. 
To  see  such  a  blooming  waste  of  brilliant  color  and 
gorgeous  framing  expended  on  legitimate  advertising 
rather  took  one's  breath  away.  We  had  never  seen 
its  like  before,  except  for  the  side-shows  of  a  circus. 
To  the  traveller  who  comes  across  country  by  the 
direct  overland  route,  and  makes  his  debut,  as  it 
were,  here,  it  must  be  even  more  startling,  for  we 
had  become  by  this  time  accustomed  to  Californian 
idiosyncracies. 

I  can  easily  imagine  the  approach  to  San  Francisco 


136  ON   THE    WING. 

across  the  bay,  a  most  beautiful  one  at  certain  seasons 
of  the  year.  It  is  always  impressive,  as  a  great  city 
set  on  hills  and  surrounded  by  water  must  ever  be ; 
but  when  the  welcome  rains  have  brought  with  them 
verdure  and  bloom,  so  that  the  lovely  world  is  new- 
born to  its  birthright  of  fresher  loveliness,  it  must  be 
a  rare  sight.  When  one  comes  from  the  desperate 
cold  of  an  Eastern  winter,  and  crossing  the  Rockies 
between  walls  of  snow  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  deep, 
comes  into  this  land  of  flowers,  and  steams  across  the 
waters  of  the  Pacific  to  the  gates  of  this  golden  city, 
it  must  be  like  entering  paradise.  Just  now,  it  is  more 
like  purgatory.  Although  only  two  months  of  the  dry 
season  are  over,  the  hills  are  gray,  the  streets  windy 
arfll  forlorn,  whirlwinds  of  dust  rush  and  rise  at  every 
corner,  and  the  first  aspect  is  almost  one  of  desola- 
tion. Unconsciously,  the  Eastern  mind  makes  San 
Francisco  the  representative  of  California.  It  absorbs 
its  interests,  it  upholds  its  pride,  it  is  the  blossom  of 
its  civilization,  just  as  Rome  is  of  Italy  or  Paris  of 
France.  Unconsciously,  also,  people  who  are  not  old 
travellers  measure  that  part  of  the  world  in  which 
they  happen  to  find  themselves,  by  home  standards. 
Remembering  the  glory  of  June  in  New-England,  its 
sweetness,  its  beauty,  its  tenderness  of  unfolding  life; 
remembering,  too,  the  dreams  we  have  dreamed,  and 
stories  we  have  heard,  of  the  opulent  wealth  of  this 
Western  land,  the  first  feeling  is  one  of  unreasoning 
disappointment.  You  are  ready  to  be  charmed,  and 
find  yourself  chilled  instead.  Although  in  a  vague 
way  you  have  heard  before  that  there  are  such  things 


ON  THE   WING.  137 

as  drawbacks  of  climate  and  want  of  finish,  imagina- 
tion, working  with  what  it  had  to  feed  on  in  lower 
California,  has  built  up  a  world  of  its  own  and  resents 
the  levelling  processes  of  sober  fact.  It  insists  on 
this  being  the  culminating  point. 

The  city  is  the  most  tantalizing  of  all  we  have  yet 
"  struck,"  according  to  the  Western  phrase.  Its  people 
regard  it  with  such  an  absorbing  love,  and  the  Eastern- 
ers who  have  lived  in  it  for  any  time  acquire  such 
devotion  for  it,  that  one  expects  to  be  fascinated  at 
the  first  glance.  But  one  most  decidedly  is  not.  All 
that  you  have  heard  or  read  of  the  glorious  climate  of 
California,  the  poetic  imagery  that  clings  about  the 
Golden  Gate,  the  fabulous  stories  of  wealth  and  splen- 
dor, the  songs  of  Joaquin  Miller  and  the  sketches  of 
Bret  Harte,  clusters  about  this  spot  before  you  reach 
it,  as  the  Mecca  of  the  Forty-niners.  But  when  you 
come,  tired  and  dusty  from  the  long  overland  ride, 
across  the  Oakland  ferry,  and  land  at  the  foot  of 
Market  street,  in  a  world  that  seems  more  dusty  than 
ever;  when  you  see  the  queer  conglomeration  of 
splendor  and  smallness  in  even  the  principal  thorough- 
fares ;  when  your  eyes  are  greeted  wherever  they  turn 
by  the  outlying  sand-hills,  whose  shifting  favors  are 
momently  sifted  over  the  entire  city,  you  begin  to 
hesitate,  and  she  who  hesitates  is  lost.  When,  added 
to  this,  you  find  that  the  gorgeous  sunshine  of  which 
you  have  been  told  so  much  does  not  put  in  an  appear- 
ance for  three  days  running;  that  a  fog,  thick  enough 
to  cut  in  slices  and  send  away  by  Wells  &  Fargo's 
omnipresent  express,  drifts  in  every  day  and  all  day 


138  ON  THE  WING. 

long ;  that  you  must  wear  your  winter  furs  and  thickest 
flannels  in  June,  while  your  pretty  fluffy  muslins  and 
light  ribbons  are  remanded  to  the  darkness  and  crush- 
ing of  the  trunk;  that  your  crimps  straighten  out  in 
the  most  deplorable  fashion,  and  you  have  to  put  up 
an  umbrella  to  save  your  hat;  that  gritty  whirlwinds 
of  sand  get  into  hair,  eyes  and  mouth,  till  you  feel 
like  a  nutmeg-grater,  while  in  spite  of  all  this  you  are 
required  to  indorse  the  pretty  fiction  that  the  world  is 
just  as  it  should  be,  and  this  ridiculous  city  the  very 
choice  gem  of  it,  why,  it's  simply  too  much. 

You  rage  and  storm  for  awhile ;  you  sigh  over  your 
best  black  satin,  ruined  after  a  week's  promenading; 
you  sneer  at  the  women  in  the  streets  wearing  seal- 
skin sacques  down  to  their  ankles  and  white  summer 
hats  at  the  same  time;  you  ridicule  the  "bits"  which 
take  the  place  of  honest  quarter  and  half  dollars  ;  the 
enormous  size  of  everything,  from  the  Palace  Hotel 
to  the  sidewalk  advertisements ;  the  planked  streets 
and  universal  bay-windows  ;  the  quantity  of  jig-sawing 
which  shocks  your  aesthetic  principles  by  its  lavish 
out-door  application.  A  few  of  the  bonanza  kings  are 
pointed  out,  men  shown  to  the  world  by  the  fierce 
light  which  beats  upon  a  throne  upheld  by  millions,, 
and  you  sneer  more  than  ever.  Better  the  dinner  of 
herbs  a  thousand  times  than  such  a  feast  of  stalled 
ox  as  this. 

But  at  last,  one  comparatively  fine  morning  you  get 
on  the  dummy  to  ride  up  California  street,  and  you 
experience  a  change  of  heat,  swift,  sudden  and  lasting. 
The  little  quiet  monster  that  whisks  you  up  and  pulls 


ON  THE   WING.  139 

you  down  the  perpendicular  hills,  with  a  sudden  nerial 
flight  like  an  elevator,  may  have  something  to  do  with 
your  conversion;  the  brilliant  glow  of  sunshine  falling 
on  Mt.  Diablo  and  the  blue  waters  ebbing  through  the 
Golden  Gate  have  more.  You  pass  the  wonderful 
houses  with  mosques  and  minarets,  with  conservatories 
and  porte-cocheres,  with  stone  garden-walls  that  cost  a 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  with  that  gorgeous, 
air  of  having  been  built  regardless  of  everything  save  a 
cerfain  mammoth  desire  for  comfort  and  luxury  which 
never  struck  your  conservative  New  England  senses 
before.  You  pass  other  houses,  by  scores  and  hun- 
dreds, wonderful,  too,  in  a  different  way,  for  the  air  of 
brightness  and  perfume  of  the  glowing  little  beds  of 
flowers  around  the  small  tenement,  and  the  general 
well-to-do  effect  it  gives  the  places.  You  hear  that  at 
Christmas  time,  when  the  cold  is  pinching  the  soul 
through  the  body  by  the  Eastern  sea,  the  same  flowers, 
will  be  blooming  in  the  same  gardens,  and  the  air  will 
be  just  what  it  is  to-day,  and  no  more ;  with  the  added 
luxury  of  a  daily  rain  to  allay  the  indomitable  dust. 
You  drive  out  to  the  pretty  park  and  find  that  the 
strange  nondescript  pavements  let  your  carriage  roll 
easily ;  that  the  city  has  a  conservatory  which  palsies 
your  preconceived  ideas  of  magnificence ;  that  the 
fight  between  mind  and  matter  is  going  on  indefatiga- 
bly  and  unceasingly,  so  that  every  day  sees  an  inch  or 
two  more  of  sand-waste  reclaimed  from  the  desert  and 
made  to  blossom  like  the  rose  —  and  so  from  melting- 
somewhat  along  the  edges,  you  begin  to  thaw  entirely. 
By-and-by  you  begin  to  meet  the  people,  —  the  heart- 


140  ON   THE   WING. 

whole,  generous  people,  who  take  your  hand  with  a 
grip  that  means  something,  and  put  themselves  and 
their  treasures  at  your  feet  with  a  remnant  of  the 
old  Spanish  courtesy  which  made  the  days  of  Cas- 
tilian  chivalry  so  delightful.  You  find  parlors  filled 
with  as  perfect  and  exquisite  taste  as  any  of  the  dear 
Queen  Anne  houses  of  the  Eastern  empire  ;  you  find 
pictures  whose  reputation  has  reached  other  lands, 
and  young  people  refined  and  well-bred,  with  what- 
ever grace  culture  can  lend  to  the  means  which  make 
culture  useful.  Over  and  over  again  you  are  sur- 
prised and  delighted  at  the  difference  between  interior 
and  exterior  life,  as  the  prickly  burr  of  the  chestnut 
hides  the  sweet  meat  within.  It  is  the  old  story  of 
Beauty  and  the  Beast;  you  have  only  to  wait  a  little, 
and  look  wiih  kindly,  unbiassed  eyes,  to  find  the  fairy 
prince  under  the  coarse  husk  of  many  an  unprepos- 
sessing personnel. 

But  the  perverse  climate,  which  is  the  bane  of  the 
town  at  this  time  of  year,  puts  to  flight  any  desire  to 
yield  entirely  to  the  seductions  of  the  spot.  After 
the  few  morning  hours,  there  is  a  chilliness  constantly 
in  the  air,  modelled  on  the  worst  form  of  the  east 
winds  which  are  our  bane  at  home.  The  fog,  which 
would  be  called  fine  rain  in  any  other  place  where 
good  English  was  spoken,  is-  of  almost  daily  occur- 
rence ;  and  the  change  between  the  sunny  and  shady 
side  of  the  street,  at  the  same  instant  of  time,  is  some- 
thing truly  western  in  dimensions.  Besides,  you  don't 
believe,  and  don't  want  to  believe,  in  a  country  where 
a  woman  cannot  add  to  her  armory  of  legitimate 


ON  THE  WING.  141 

weapons  such  telling  and  trenchant  properties  as  sum- 
mer dresses,  airy,  fresh  and  elegant.  Think  of  having 
no  change  of  base,  but  fighting  it  out  on  a  winter 
line  all  summer.  What  chance  is  there  for  a  glorious 
campaign  under  such  conditions  ? 

We  have  had  as  yet  in  this  first  week  only  a  pre- 
liminary or  bird's-eye  view.  It  will  take  much  longer 
time  to  develop  the  real  state  of  things  here,  and  how 
it  compares  with  those  of  other  places.  The  trouble 
is,  in  short  trips,  that  one  rarely  gets  beyond  the  simple 
first  glance.  It  is  like  standing  on  a  mountain  side; 
distance  hides  all  the  lesser  inequalities  and  makes 
the  world  look  as  if  on  a  dead  level.  Just  as  in  meet- 
ing human  acquaintances,  all  the  little  individualities 
come  out  afterward. 

Once  you  have  driven  through  the  Golden  Gate  Park 
on  the  way  to  the  Cliff  House,  and  seen  the  manner 
in  which  the  pushing  sand-hills  toss  and  tumble  up 
from  the  sea,  whelming  trees  and  flowers  in  their  way, 
you  will  never  again  wonder  that  they  have  so  much 
dust  in  San  Francisco  ;  the  surprise  will  be  that  they 
have  so  little,  for  the  entire  place  is  built  on  a  sand- 
bank. It  is  almost  a  miracle  to  see  the  masses  of 
fragrant  yellow  lupin,  which  is  their  first  agent  in 
reclaiming  this  shifting  waste,  striking  root  and  bear- 
ing brilliant  spikes  of  blossoms  and  luxuriant  foliage 
on  so  frail  a  foundation.  It  looks  as  if  at  any  moment, 
like  a  scene  at  a  theatre,  it  might  be  pushed  out  of 
sight  and  the  wild  ocean  claim  its  own  again. 

This  park  proves  conclusively,  like  the  Archbishop's 
garden  at  Santa  Fe^  what  an  adequate  system  of 


142  ON   THE   WING. 

watering  could  do  for  the  rest  of  the  city.  It  is  placed 
in  the  most  desperately  barren  spot  of  all,  where  the 
yellow  sand  is  blown  in  huge  billows,  and  threatens  to 
overflow  everything ;  yet  patience,  and  time,  and  pure 
water,  three  of  the  best  things  in  God's  world,  and 
most  easily  in  every  one's  reach,  have  made  the  spot 
in  a  couple  of  years  green  as  an  emerald  and  a  real 
delight  to  the  eyes.  We  could  not  help  .wishing  that 
some  time  or  other  a  Crystal  Palace,  some  miniature 
edition  of  their  beautiful  conservatory,  might  make 
our  own  Royal  Pleasure  Garden  complete  by  giving 
us  a  bit  of  brightness  in  winter-time.  These  Califor- 
nian  people  do  not  need  conservatories.  The  poorest 
of  them  is  a  nabob  in  the  matter  of  flowers.  Along 
the  street,  men  and  boys  by  the  dozen  offer  you  huge 
bouquets  of  jacqueminots  or  great  bunches  of  assorted 
flowers  for  ten  cents ;  in  the  bits  of  gardens  outside 
every  house,  there  are  blossoms  the  whole  year  round, 
and  the  passer-by  can  feast  his  senses  on  perfume  and 
brightness  from  New  Year's  day  to  Christmas.  But 
here,  where  for  five  or  six  months  we  have  the  harsh- 
ness of  winter  outside,  with  no  atom  of  color  to  relieve 
the  gray  or  white  monotone,  how  more  than  delicious  it 
would  be  to  step  within  transparent  walls  and  welcome 
the  bloom  of  summer  back  again.  Now  that  the 
clear  little  city  is  stretching  her  arms  upward  and 
outward  in  search  of  jewels  to  adorn  her,  why  doesn't 
some  one  of  her  generous  children  celebrate  his 
loving  remembrance  by  a  perpetual  fellowship  of 
flowers?  It  would  be  better  than  all  the  windows  in 
Memorial  Hall. 


ON   THE   WING.  143 

The  longer  one  stays  here  the  longer  one  wants 
to  stay.  By  the  time  a  second  week  is  passing,  one 
begins  to  see  something  of  the  inner  life  and  motive 
which  causes  much  of  the  outer  expression.  For 
instance,  the  absurdity,  as  it  seems  in  the  first  place, 
of  building  these  elegant  mansions,  veritable  Chateaux 
en  Espagne,  of  wood,  is  explained  by  the  extreme 
difficulty  of  procuring  stone,  and  still  more  by  the 
always  present  dread  of  earthquakes.  Although  the 
people  profess  to  laugh  at  these  little  climatic  outbursts 
of  fever  and  ague,  there  is  still  deep  down  in  their 
hearts  a  nervous  and  unexpressed  dread  of  what  may 
happen.  They  say,  and  truly,  that  lightning  kills 
more  people  in  one  year  in  the  East,  than  their  earth- 
quakes have,  all  massed  together,  since  time  immemo- 
rial; but  that  does  not  get  rid  of  the  fact,  that  any 
time  of  any  year  one  single  tremendous  shake  may 
bring  with  it  a  sweeping  storm  of  destruction.  Every 
one  who  has  ever  felt  even  the  slighteR  snock  agrees 
in  declaring  that  the  helpless  horror  of  the  situation 
is  beyond  that  caused  by  any  other  natural  agent; 
and  even  men  used  to  similar  manifestations  all  their 
lives,  turn  pale  at  each  new  one.  The  question  of 
expense,  which  seems  naturally  to  be  a  secondary  one 
in  this  land  of  magnificent  fcwgunes,  yet  holds  for 
something,  when  a  palace  that  1ms  cost  half  a  million, 
in  its  present  material,  would  mount  to  three  millions 
in  more  substantial  form.  There  must  be  a  limit; 
and,  though  the  air  is  thick  with  fortunes  of  thousands 
and  hundreds  of  thousands,  still  millions  do  not  hang 
on  every  bush  even  in  California. 


,- 


CHAPTER   XII. 

SOME    OF    THE    WITCHERIES    OF    CALIFORNIA. 

THE  three  or  four  days  we  spent  at  jVfonterey, 
while  still  having  our  headquarters  at  San 
Francisco,  made  altogether  the  pleasantest 
memory  we  had  of  California.  The  place  itself  is 
hard  to  classify,  because  of  its  exceeding  loveliness. 
We  have  nothing  at  home  that  approaches  the  ex- 
quisite setting  of  this  exquisite  house,  a  summer  hotel 
prettier  even  than  the  Montezuma  at  Las  Vegas,  and 
in  an  adorable  spot,  so  far  as  nature  is  concerned. 
The  pretty,  quaint  old  town  lying  near  by,  on  the 
shore  of  a  quiet  harbor,  makes  an  'a^^irable  site  for 
research,  amid  its  adobe  houses  and 'fumed  missions; 
but  it  is  the  Del  Monte  hotel  particularly  which  has 
become  now  an  objective  point  for  tourists.  The 
Pacific,  all  along  tftis  coast,  wears  constantly  that 
dazzling  sapphire  blue  which  we  see  at  home  only  at 
special  times;  the  sky  carries  out  the  same  superb 
color  with  a  glow  and  depth  of  sunshine  super-added, 
which  is  almost  too  brilliant  for  belief;  and  a  series  of 
curving  beaches  of  shining,  snowy,  white  sand,  are 
covered  here  and  there,  even  down  to  the  water's 
edge,  by  a  growth  of  the  most  picturesque  trees  on 
this  continent.  These  are  a  species  of  flat-topped, 
sombre-leaved  cypresses,  with  gnarled  and  twisted 
10 


146  ON  THE   WING. 

trunks,  bent  into  all  sorts  of  impossible  shapes,  making- 
the  most  weird  and  striking  picture,  and  compensating 
in  their  dense  shadows  for  the  glowing  beauty  of  sea 
and  sky  beyond.  They  are,  I  believe,  unique,  to  this 
locality,  and  remind  one  constantly  of  those  weird 
cedars  of  the  Roman  Campagna,  which  Inness  is  so 
fond  of  introducing  in  his  Italian  pictures.  They  give 
an  essentially  foreign  aspect  to  this  locality.  Across 
the  water,  showing  in  faint  purple  outline  against 
the  horizon,  a  beautiful  mountain  range  melts  into  the 
distance,  while  between  skim  white-sailed  boats,  or 
dim,  shadowy  ships  glide  just  indicated  on  the  farthest 
edge.  Coming  nearer  the  house,  one  enters  a  grove 
of  live  oaks  and  pines  intermixed,  bent  by  the  fierce 
northwesters  into  the  wildest  and  most  frenzied  forms, 
as  if  the  dryads  occupying  them  had  been  tortured 
by  remorse ;  under  these,  winding  paths  run  here  and 
there,  borcle^ad  by  emerald  lawns  which  near  the 
house  blossom  into  brilliant  flower-beds  of  the  most 
magnificent  and  profuse  kind.  In  one  place  a  cactus 
garden  shows  every  variety  of  these  diabolical  forms, 
fascinating  in  their  repulsiveness  as  the  devil  fishes  so 
many  of  them  resemble,  and  gorgeous  with  a  tropical 
luxuriance  of  blossoms.  A  corps  of  forty  gardeners 
are  busy  winter  and  summer  in  this  beautiful  place, 
and  the  results  are  worthy  the  labor  devoted  to  it. 
Some  of  the  wild  gardens,  with  hedges  of  foxgloves 
ten  feet  high  and  every  color  of  the  rainbow,  and 
clusters  of  roses  of  such  magnificence  and  regal  ampli- 
tude, that  they  look  hardly  natural,  make  it  seem  as 
if  somewhere  within  those  tangled  bowers  the  sleep- 


ON  THE   WING.  147 

ing  beauty  might  still  be  held  in  magic  thrall,  sur- 
rounded by  her  bewitched  court.  It  would  have  to  be 
a  very  royal  young  prince  indeed,  who  could  ever 
make  up  to  her  for  breaking  such  a  delicious  slumber. 
The  house  in  the  midst  of  this  fairyland  is  worthy 
the  situation.  A  mass  of  towers  and  deliciously- 
planned  corners  and  angles,  with  broad  piazzas  and 
shaded  porches,  it  rises  by  terraces  of  steps  from  its 
enchanted  wilderness  of  flowers  like  another  bit  of 
enchantment.  It  is  beyond  all  cavil  or  comparison 
the  prettiest  bit  of  architecture,  and  the  most  com- 
plete in  its  internal  arrangement,  we  have  seen  in  these 
months  of  varied  wandering.  The  service  in  the 
dining-room  is  a  miracle  for  swiftness  and  polite  atten- 
tion. We  had  grown  so  used  to  plate-hurling  and 
table-tossing,  to  waiting  an  hour  for  an  order,  to  hav- 
ing cold  dishes  and  uncalled-for  dishes  set  clownishly 
before  us,  and  to  taking  them  meekly,  glad  of  any- 
thing from  such  imperious  bunglers  as  the  ordinary 
hotel-waiters  of  the  Western  country,  that  it  seemed 
like  reaching  a  haven  of  rest  and  peace  to  sit  down 
and  have  a  well-bred  attendant  satisfy  quietly  and 
quickly  every  wish  of  the  heart.  Even  the  Palace 
Hotel,  with  its  well-trained  corps  of  assistants  and 
elaborate  cuisine,  cannot  compete  in  anything  but 
waffles  with  this  beloved  inn.  The  Palace  waffles  are 
things  to  dream  of.  Within  its  limited  list  of  luxu- 
ries everything  is  well  cooked,  and  sent  to  the  table 
as  hot  —  well,  as  hot  as  hot  —  and  that  is  one  of  the 
first  essentials  for  perfection.  The  Palace  is  of  such 
tremendous  proportions  that  even  if  a  waiter  takes 


148  ON  THE   WING. 

your  portion  out  of  a  fiery  furnace,  it  has  left  all  its 
glow  behind  before  it  reaches  you.  It  is  nobody's 
fault,  and  yet  your  innocent  stomach  suffers.  Within 
easy  distance,  the  most  beautiful  drives  imaginable 
are  to  be  found,  and  remarkably  good  horses  and 
carriages  to  reach  them.  Groves,  cliffs,  beaches  strewn 
with  the  great  shells  of  the  Abalone,  lined  with 
gleaming  mother-of-pearl,  Chinese  fishing- villages 
with  their  picturesque  collection  of  huts  and  people, 
ruined  walls  of  adobe  and  quiet  little  half-Spanish  vil- 
lages,  are  within  easy  reach.  The  beautiful  Santa 
Clara  valley,  fertile  and  fair,  stretches  away  to  the 
north,  dotted  with  such  pleasant  towns  as  San  Jose, 
Memlo  Park  and  other  pretty  spots,  while  San  Fran- 
cisco itself  is  but  three  hours  and  a  half  away  —  for 
we  are  learning  now  to  measure  distance  by  minutes 
instead  of  miles. 

I  wish  the  dear  people  who  are  at  the  helm  of  our 
different  eastern  seaside  resorts  this  summer  would 
take  a  telegraphic  trip  here  before  the  house  closes, 
and  carry  back  a  mental  inventory  of  luxuries  for  next 
season's  campaign.  The  idea  of  Boston  people  being 
outdone  by  anything  so  Western  as  the  Pacific  coast, 
the  very  jumping-off  place  of  creation !  I  won't  ask 
them  to  take  home  the  warm  sea-water  tanks  under 
their  crystal  roofs,  with  the  esplanade  of  waving  palms 
and  greenery  throwing  their  soft  quivering  shadows 
on  the  bathers,  for  we  have  not  the  long  Western 
purses  which  can  afford  to  pay  $75,000  for  such  a  lux- 
urious whim.  But  the  glass-covered  piazzas,  where 
the  sun  makes  summer  even  out  of  a  winter  day, 


ON   THE   WING.  149 

with  every  rude  wind  shut  out,  and  only  sweet  sights 
and  sounds  within  reach  of  eyes  and  ears — that  they 
might  take ;  and  the  tiled  fireplaces  full  of  blazing 
logs;  and  the  exquisite  little  rooms  with  their  Turk- 
ish rugs,  lovely  enough  to  have  come  this  moment  out 
of  Fray's  window;  and  the  parlor  with  its  Steinway 
grand;  and  the  garden  protected  by  hedges  and  ram- 
parts. Why  cannot  they  make  a  Monterey  by  the 
Atlantic? 

Returning  to  San  Francisco,  I  must  do  the  people 
the  simple  justice  to  say  that  our  Eastern  notions  of 
their  peculiarities  are  entirely  and  unwarrantably  ex- 
travagant. The  nouveaux  riches  at  home  have  quite 
as  much  vulgarity  and  shoddiness  and  loudness,  with 
a  finical  narrowness  in  the  way  of  flaunting  their 
pretensions  in  the  face  and  eyes  of  the  populace, 
which  the  larger-hearted  and  freer-handed  Westerner 
never  acquires.  The  few  houses  with  which  person- 
ally I  had  the  pleasure  of  being  familiar  were  exquisite 
in  refinement  and  good  taste,  with  a  fine  flavor  of 
heartiness  thrown  in  that  is  too  often  wanting  in  our 
more  thin-blooded  civilization.  They  were  filled  with 
a  generous  amplitude  of  comfort  and  luxury,  both  in 
furnishing  and  dimension,  that  our  showy  modern 
architecture  would  never  admit..  They  made  many  of 
us  doubt  whether  even  in  building, 

"the  reign  of  good  Queen  Anne 
Was  culture's  palmiest  day." 

From  hallway  to  bath-room,  from  fireplace  to  frieze, 
there  was  a  largeness  as  attractive  as  unusual.  The 
young  people  who  swarm  through  them,  for  there  is- 


150  ON  THE  WING. 

an  old  world  sentiment  in  favor  of  large  families  which 
does  credit  to  the  head  and  heart,  were  well-educated, 
well-bred,  and  fascinating  in  that  delicate  fragrance  of 
modesty  and  unassuming  simplicity  which  is  to  youth 
what  perfume  is  to  the  flower.  Within  a  few  years 
their  home  educational  institutions  have  made  im- 
mense strides.  There  will  soon  be  small  need  of 
sending  boys  to  Harvard  or  girls  to  New  York  board- 
ing-schools. I  saw  in  the  large  halls  of  the  college 
of  St.  Ignatius,  one  of  the  finest  sets  of  apparatus  in 
chemistry  and  physics  I  ever  found  in  any  place, 
filling  class-room  after  class-room  with  the  best  appli- 
ances of  modern  art ;  and  at  the  annual  exhibition  of 
one  of  the  private  schools,  we  found  a  collection  of 
young  girls,  who,  for  talent,  for  sweetness,  and  for 
perfect  simplicity  of  dress  and  character,  might  have 
borne  away  the  palm  from  our  darling  ones  at  home. 
The  increasing  tendency  to  display  in  our  Boston 
exhibitions  has  been  a  sore  blow  to  many  of  us  now 
for  years.  But  how  could  any  girl,  with  a  girl's  intui- 
tive love  for  purity  and  refinement,  be  near  the  beloved 
woman  who  is  the  soul  of  that  San  Francisco  school, 
and  not  become  permeated  for  life  with  all  good  influ- 
ences ?  One  of  the  dearest  wishes  of  my  life  would  be 
fulfilled  if  my  little  Happy-Heart  could  be  near  her. 

It  is  a  sincere  pleasure  to  be  able  to  take  home  this 
remembrance  of  the  city.  We  have  had  for  years 
such  a  distorted  picture  of  the  social  relations  of  the 
place  in  our  mind's  eye,  that  this  glimpse  of  its  real 
condition  is  comforting.  Not  that  there  is  not  plenty 
of  room  for  improvement ;  any  city  as  cosmopolitan 


ON   THE    WING.  151 

in  its  tendencies  as  this,  must  enclose  an  immense 
mixture  of  good  and  evil.  But  the  Eastern  humani- 
tarians who  so  zealously  ignore  the  beam  in  their  own 
eyes,  while  pointing  out  the  motes  in  the  moral  iris  of 
San  Francisco,  had  better  call  on  an  oculist  before 
going  any  farther.  It  is  a  pity  to  spoil  such  a  number 
of  the  pretty  little  on-dits  of  polite  society  by  doubting 
their  veracity  ;  but  I  think  the  day  is  fast  waning  that 
could  give  us  stories  of  Mrs.  Mackay  and  others  of 
her  class  desiring  to  buy  the  Arc  de  Triomphe.  Even 
without  that  reticence  which  comes  with  the  habit  of 
riches,  there  is  too  good  an  understanding  of  their 
own  place  and  dignity  to  admit  of  such  faux  pas  now ; 
and,  as  a  simple  matter  of  justice,  I  do  n't  know  why 
we  should  pet  our  self-made  men  and  women  at  home, 
and  sneer  at  them  in  San  Francisco. 

In  a  place  of  such  magnificent  proportions  as  this, 
two  weeks  or  three,  is  only  an  aggravation  as  a  limit  of 
time.  The  Chinese  quarter  alone  would  occupy  half 
of  it,  in  its  bewildering  novelty.  A  stranger's  steps 
turn  as  instinctively  toward  this  queer  precinct  here, 
as  they  would  toward  the  Louvre  at  Paris.  Per- 
haps, if  I  said  toward  Bon  Marche,  it  would  be  a 
better  simile,  for  candor  compels  me  to  admit  that 
there  is  quite  as  much  enthusiasm  expended  on  the 
cheap  bargains  as  the  priceless  pictures,  by  the  ma- 
jority of  people  who  see  "  Yurrup."  By  the  time  you 
have  travelled  with  a  detective  through  the  by-ways, 
you  want  to  try  the  highways  alone.  The  strange 
little  atoms  of  shops,  writh  their  clumsily-piled  treas- 
ures of  crapes,  and  carvings,  and  pottery,  are  like  an 


152  ON   THE   WING. 

oriental  bazaar.  They  look  as  if  they  held  nothing; 
and,  lo  !  they  contain  all  that  heart  can  desire.  The 
most  wonderful  crapes,  the  most  delicate  embroideries, 
the  most  delicious  monsters  in  china  and  bronze,  come 
out,  as  if  by  magic,  from  the  walls,  the  floor,  or  the 
ceiling.  China,  bamboo,  curios  and  fantastics,  per- 
fumes and  paints,  nothing  seems  impossible  to  get  in 
these  dark  little  dens,  if  you  are  only  ready  to  pay. 
And  ivhen  you  have  paid,  then  never  lose  sight  of 
your  bundle  until  it  is  safe  in  your  possession.  They 
have  a  habit  of  forgetfulness,  an  absent-minded  way 
of  dropping  two  or  three  small  articles  out  of  your 
purchases  and  letting  it  escape  their  recollection, 
which  is  trying  to  one  of  business  habits.  But  make 
a  note  of  the  items,  and  don't  let  it  elude  your  re- 
tentive memory,  and  you  can  floor  the  almond-eyed 
Celestial  every  time.  And  never  give  by  any  chance 
more  than  two-thirds  of  the  price  first  asked.  The 
more  you  succeed  in  shaving  a  Chinaman,  the  more 
respect  he  has  for  your  race  ;  so  you  owe  it  to  civil- 
ization to  uphold  its  standard. 

If  you  ever  find  yourself  in  one  of  the  streets  which 
belong  to  this  people,  turn  in  at  the  first  chop-house 
you  meet ;  climb  one  or  two  flights  of  stairs,  until  you 
come  to  the  uppermost  rooms;  choose  a  stool  of 
carved  ebony  from  the  pile  at  one  side ;  sit  down  at  a 
small  round  table  of  polished  teak  wood  and  look 
about  you.  There  will  probably  be  lanterns  of  a 
gorgeousness  you  never  before  dreamed  of  hanging 
from  the  roof,  and  screens  and  banners  brilliant  and 
dazzling  on  the  walls ;  there  will  be  glass  cases  filled 


ON   THE   WING.  153 

with  impossible  figures,  and  glowing  flowers  here  and 
there;  there  will  be  a  crowd  of  chattering  Chinese, 
some  Mandarins  with  the  precious  red  button  on  top 
of  the  small  silk  cap,  some  immensely  effective  in 
brocaded  trousers  of  a  richness  that  makes  your  un- 
accustomed eyes  weak,  and  some  common  people  like 
yourself.  Take  all  this  in,  and  then  ask  for  tea.  Ye 
gods !  such  tea !  such  nectar  as  you  will  never  know 
again.  They  put  a  pinch  of  dry  leaves  into  a  tiny 
cup  ;  they  pour  boiling  water  in  and  cover  with  a  little 
saucer;  in  a  moment  they  pour  off  this  effusion  into 
still  tinier  cups  like  those  of  a  child's  tea-set;  they 
offer  you  sugar  if  you  desire,  but  no  milk,  and  every 
few  moments  your  copper-colored  Ganymede  comes 
with  a  kettle  of  his  own  tint  and  pours  on  more  water; 
yet  the  last  cup  is  better  than  the  first.  With  it  they 
give  you  little  decorated  saucers  of  preserved  ginger,  of 
baked  almonds,  of  limes  conserved  in  sugar,  of  fanciful 
cakes  made  of  nut-paste  covered  with  brilliant  frosting, 
of  strange-looking  rice  squares,  and  last,  but  not  least, 
a  pair  of  chop-sticks,  which,  if  you  are  a  wise  woman, 
you  will  not  try  to  tackle.  The  airy  and  easy  way  in 
which  your  convives  use  them  may  deceive  you,  but 
don't  attempt  to  copy;  be  original,  and  let  them 
severely  alone  ;  and  for  all  this  dissipation  you  will 
pay  two  bits,  the  value  of  which  you  probably  know 
by  this  time,  but  for  fear  that  you  don't,  I  will  whisper 
—  twenty-five  cents. 

You  will  go  to  the  Chinese  theatre,  of  course,  but 
you  will  not  stay  there.  Of  all  the  grotesque,  dis- 
cordant, bombastic,  infernal,  inhuman  Jortures  the 


154  ON  THE  WING. 

barbaric  mind  ever  conceived,  this  is  foremost.  No 
wonder  an  ordinary  play  lasts  six  months  in  the  pre- 
sentation, when  between  every  word  an  actor  speaks 
there  is  a  pause  to  allow  the  orchestra  of  three  to 
clash  cymbals,  and  roll  drums,  and  squeak  a  two- 
stringed  fiddle  with  a  triangle  hanging  from  it.  The 
orator  wades  through  part  of  his  sentence  in  this  man- 
ner, swaggers  behind  the  stage  to  rest,  comes  out  at 
the  other  side,  takes  up  the  broken  thread  of  his 
discourse,  gets  tired,  goes  in  again,  and  so  on,  ad 
nauseam.  As  among  the  ancient  Greeks,  women  are 
not  allowed  upon  the  stage,  young  men  filling  their 
parts,  with  brilliantly-painted  cheeks,  gorgeously  em- 
broidered silken  robes,  and  the  most  harrowing,  un- 
natural, shrieking  falsetto  voices  imaginable.  As  a 
sort  of  protest  of  race,  I  suppose,  men  in  the  audi- 
ence wore  their  hats,  while  every  one  in  the  women's 
gallery  went  bareheaded,  with  hair  dressed  after  the 
fashion  with  which  pictures  have  long  made  us  familiar. 
The  hideously  dreadful  noise  of  brass  and  tin  never 
ceases,  except  for  a  second  at  a  time,  and  the  patient, 
sad-eyed  crowd,  sitting  quiet  and  motionless,  filling 
every  inch  of  floor  and  gallery,  look  on  with  grave 
satisfaction.  There  is  no  applause  and  no  animation, 
but  an  absorbed  interest  in  what  is  going  on,  which 
must  be  a  comfort  to  the  shrieking  actors  if  the  pan- 
demonium about  allows  them  to  notice  it.  Ten  minutes 
were  all  our  weak  tympani  could  bear;  but  here  the 
motionless  crowd  sat  for  hours  without  any  feeling 
but  delight.  In  spite  of  the  most  painful  attention  to 
look  and  gesture,  in  'order  to  get,  if  possible,  an  ink- 


ON  THE  WING.  155 

ling  of  the  plot,  we  were  obliged  to  give  up  in  despair. 
Every  sentence  was  delivered  with  the  same  terrific 
force  and  exaggeration  of  action,  so  that  the  declama- 
tion was  one  dead  level  of  noise  and  fury. 

The  opium  dens  and  gambling  saloons  we  left  alone. 
Seeing  men  make  brutes  or  fools  of  themselves  did 
not  enter  into  our  ideas  of  a  holiday ;  but  those  wha 
investigated  thought  them  of  interest.  The  water 
trips  to  Saucelito,  San  Rafael  and  San  Quentin,  gave  us 
beautiful  glimpses  of  what  seemed  the  most  beautiful 
harbor  in  the  world.  The  water  had  always  the  same 
deep  green  color,  that  looked  unreal  to  eyes  accus- 
tomed to  the  blue  Atlantic;  the  rounded,  wooded 
islands  and  promontories  made  a  succession  of  de- 
lightful views;  the  city  climbing  its  terraced  sand- 
hills was  always  in  sight  as  a  bit  of  life,  and  the 
mountain  ranges  melting  in  the  distance  made  the 
farther  shore  beautiful,  with  its  white  villages  nestling 
in  the  shadow  of  the  hills. 

Then  there  were  the  Twin  Peaks  and  the  Cliff 
House,  the  Golden  Gate  Park  and  the  Presidio,  the 
Diamond  Palace  and  the  Shot  Tower,  the  Fire  Patrol 
and  Ichi  Ban.  The  "cable  roads  themselves,  are  enough 
attraction  for  any  one  city.  We  saw  them  in  Chicago, 
but  without  being  at  all  impressed.  To  see  a  car  and 
dummy  going  on  a  level  plain-  was  so  like  common 
railroading  that  even  the  absence  of  steam  failed 
to  make  it  unusual.  But  here,  where  they  go  rushing 
up  and  tumbling  down  the  frightfully  steep  sand-hills, 
which,  like  perpendicular  terraces,  surround  the  city 
on  almost  every  side,  they  become  one  of  the  wonders 


156  ON  THE  WING. 

of  the  world.  A  single  lever-like  handle  projecting 
perpendicularly  from  the  centre  of  an  open  car  is  the 
only  visible  machinery.  A  jerk  to  this  side  or  that, 
propels  two  cars  up  the  side  of  the  steepest  ascent, 
or  stops  it  in  the  midst  of  an  incline  that  leaves  one 
almost  in  mid-air.  I  find  copied  in  the  Big  Boy's 
diary  a  Chinaman's  description  of  this  motive  power, 
which  is  so  concisely  vivid,  that  1  copy  it  here,  in 
spite  of  its  slight  Western  flavor  of  profanity,  which 
is  as  natural  to  this  soil  as  its  monstrous  squash  and 
gigantic  beets,  and  almost  as  innocent :  "  No  pushee  ! 
no  pullee !  go  like  hellee,"  was  the  gentle  barbarian's 
formula,  and  it  is  the  simple  truth.  It  is  very  like 
witchcraft,  and  the  unfortunate  creature  who  invented 
it  would  have  been  burned  at  the  stake  by  any 
respectable  deacon  in  Salem,  if  he  had  only  lived 
there  two  hundred  or  so  years  ago.  But  the  times 
change,  and  we  with  them.  Now  we  put  money  in 
our  wise  men's  purses,  and  send  them  to  Congress, 
when  they  achieve  some  new  triumph  of  diabolical 
art.  In  spite  of  the  cold,  cold, winds,  in  spite  of  the 
whirling  sand  and  pelting  fog,  the  outside  seats  on  the 
dummy,  which  is  not  unlike  our  open  car,  are  always 
full,  even  when  the  covered  car  behind  is  empty. 
There  seems  to  be  a  fascination  about  them,  though 
I  can  well  believe  what  a  medical  man  says,  that  con- 
sumption and  lung  diseases  have  increased  largely 
since  their  advent.  It  would  be  too  dangerous  a 
pastime  for  dear  Boston,  even  if  it  were  feasible  there. 
The  infinite  length  of  the  business  streets  is  crowded 
with  shops  of  all  kinds,  not  of  quite  such  tremendous 


ON  THE   WING.  .157 

proportions  as  our  representative  Eastern  houses 
assume,  but  of  immense  resources.  In  a  small  jewel 
shop  on  Montgomery  street,  we  saw  the  proprietor 
showing  a  party  some  regal  ornaments,  a  feather  of 
diamonds  for  the  hair,  worth  $14,000,  and  a  close 
necklace  at  $40,000.  One  would  imagine,  from  the 
lavish  number  of  precious  stones  at  each  hand's  turn 
on  the  street,  that  every  one  dabbles  in  stocks  and 
puts  his  great  profits  into  diamonds  for  his  \vife  and 
daughter;  for,  of  course,  they  all  make  great  profits,  or 
they  would  n't  keep  on  dabbling. 

If  private  and  public  report  is  to  be  believed,  almost 
every  one  in  the  country,  without  regard  to  age,  sex, 
or  position,  does  more  or  less  in  the  way  of  irregular 
stock-broking.  The  lady  speculates  with  her  pin- 
money  ;  the  servant,  with  her  wages ;  .the  business 
man,  with  his  income ;  the  mechanic,  with  his  hard- 
earned  dollars  ;  the  bootblack,  with  the  "  bits "  he 
makes  on  his  "shines."  The  air  is  full  of  legends  of 
the  tremendous  fortunes  made  by  some  chance  turn  of 
the  wheel,  now  and  again ;  a  feverish  anxiety  to  be  in 
the  lists,  with  the  chance  of  some  time  or  other  bear- 
ing off  a  prize,  possesses  the  community,  and  makes 
the  market  from  which  unprincipled  men  gather  their 
harvest.  The  very  uncertainty  attending  speculation 
becomes  one  of  the  elements  of  fascination,  and  only 
heightens  the  excitement  of  the  chase.  They  bear 
disappointment  as  an  Englishman  bears  defeat, — 
never  know  when  they  are  beaten,  and  are  ready  to  go 
into  the  struggle  again,  hammer  and  tongs,  as  soon  as 
they  recover  breath.  They  may  be  "  dead-broke," 


158  ON  THE   WING. 

"  cleaned-out,"  "  busted  "  ;  but  they  are  never  too  far 
gone  to  stake  their  next  dollar  on  the  chance  of 
"striking  it  rich  this  time."  They  are  wonderful 
people.  Other  men  would  go  mad  over  so  many  dis- 
appointments, but  the  good  Californian  thrives  on  it. 
They  believe  in  "luck,"  as  honestly  as  the  Irish 
believe  in  fairies ;  and,  in  the  deepest  depths  of  pecu- 
niary difficulty,  when  the  fair  bubble  which  dazzled 
them  before  has  melted  into  thin  air,  they  follow  some 
new  chimera,  certain  that  this  time,  at  least,  Fortune, 
which  has  been  "  down "  on  them  so  long,  will  smile, 
and  crown  them  with  her  golden  laurels. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE   ECCENTRICITIES    OF    CALIFORNIA. 

TO  the  stranger  who  enters  the  California  about 
San  Francisco,  at  this  time  of  the  year,  it  is  a 
world  of  wonders ;  everything  goes  by  con- 
traries. One  comes  to  the  city  to  get  cold,  and  goes  to 
the  country  to  get  warm.  The  fields  which  are  seen 
from  the  summits  of  the  Twin  Peaks,  lying  barren  and 
bleak  in  the  July  sunshine,  are  clad  in  verdure  and 
filled  with  lavish  profusion  of  growth  in  midwinter. 
Farmers  send  their  cattle  to  pasture  in  January,  while 
they  herd  them  in  barns  and  feed  on  hay  or  grain 
in  June.  The  usual  sequences  of  life  seem  to  be 
thoroughly  upset,  and  one  is  constantly  amazed  at  the 
series  of  surprises.  Even  on  the  vexed  Chinese  ques- 
tion there  is  an  absolute  opposition  between  fact  and 
sentiment.  Hatred  of  the  Chinese  is  the  one  point 
on  which  all  Calif ornians.  good,  bad  or  indifferent, 
agree.  There  is  no  doubt  or  cavil  in  the  Western 
mind  when  one  asks  an  opinion  in  this  regard.  Abso- 
lute distrust  or  dislike  colors  all-  their  dealings,  and 
they  speak  with  bitter  scorn  of  the  Eastern  people, 
who,  knowing  nothing  of  the  curse  fastened  upon 
them,  still  dare  to  talk  and  legislate  in  favor  of  its 
continuance.  It  is  in  vain  to  point  out  what  in- 
estimable help  the  Chinese  have  given,  and  are  giving, 


160  ON  THE  WING. 

in  public  works  which  white  labor  could  never  accom- 
plish, in  building  railroads  or  canals,  and  in  scores  of 
other  ways ;  that  simply  counts  for  nothing.  They 
are  looked  upon  with  an  aversion,  compared  with 
which  all  other  antagonisms  of  race  seem  paltry.  It 
is  a  war  of  religious  prejudice  as  well  as  political 
difference.  In  the  palmiest  clays  of  abolition  tumult, 
the  negro  was  never  so  wofully  under  the  ban,  as  these 
helots  of  the  far  East  are  now  on  the  western  coast  of 
America ;  yet,  in  spite  of  all  this  fury  of  scorn,  in 
spite  of  this  intense  hatred  which  hardly  stoops  to 
reason  with  an  inquirer,  in  spite  of  clamor  and  dis- 
affection, they  continue  to  employ  the  people  they 
revile,  and  by  so  doing  give  them,  day  by  day,  stronger 
foothold  in  their  towns  and  cities.  They  hold  indig- 
nation meetings  to  prove  that  the  Chinese  laundrymen 
are  driving  out  home  labor  ;  that  the  Chinese  kitchen- 
gardens  have  undermined  an  industry  which  in  other 
states  supports  thousands  of  citizens  and  their  fami- 
lies in  prosperity;  that  the  Chinese  habits  of  over- 
crowding, and  their  phenomenal  simplicity  of  diet, 
enable  them  to  force  all  other  laborers  from  the 
market  by  the  infinitesimal  amount  upon  which  they 
can  support  life, — and  there  the  matter  ends.  The 
very  people  who  cry  out  most  loudly,  the  very  lower 
class  who  are  being  driven  to  the  wall  by  this  tre- 
mendous competition,  employ  Chinese  washerwomen 
because  they  do  their  work  for  quarter  the  price; 
buy  Chinese-raised  vegetables  because  they  can  get 
them  for  a  cent  less  in  the  pound ;  purchase  under- 
clothes of  Chinese  peddlers,  and  tea  at  Chinese  ware- 


ON  THE  WING.  l6l 

houses  for  the  same  short-sighted  reason.  Rich  men 
rent  houses  to  the  authorities  of  the  Six  Companies, 
knowing  that  they  are  to  be  used  in  open  disregard 
of  law  and  order,  crowded  to  repulsiveness,  swarmed 
with  humanity,  until  the  number  in  each  tenement 
is  beyond  belief.  The  law  makes  edicts  to  insure  a 
certain  amount  of  air  and  light  to  every  adult  within 
the  city  walls,  and  then  closes  its  eyes,  while  twenty 
thousand  Chinese  live  in  quarters  that  would  not 
shelter  two  thousand  white  people.  The  simple  en- 
forcement of  the  act  regulating  the  number  of  cubic 
feet  of  air  required  for  each  person  within  the  city, 
would  drive  three-quarters  of  the  race  to-morrow  out- 
side the  limits  of  legislation.  They  could  not  begin 
to  pay  ordinary  rates  of  rent,  unless  they  charged  or- 
dinary rates  for  labor ;  and  once  they  place  themselves 
on  an  even  footing  in  regard  to  expense,  their  doom  is 
sealed.  This  namby-pamby  trifling  with  a  question 
concerning  which  they  pretend  such  alarm,  is  not  in 
keeping  with  the  usual  clear-headed,  energetic  action 
of  Western  people  ;  it  makes  one  suspect  some  hidden 
reason  for  tolerating  a  pet  grievance  for  the  sake  of 
railing  at  it.  If  San  Francisco  really  believes  what  it 
says  about  the  danger  of  harboring  this  race,  why  do 
they  not  use  the  simple,  legitimate  means  at  their  dis- 
posal ?  I  cannot  conceive  Boston  or  New  York,  with 
a  similar  belief,  tolerating  any  such  internecine  policy 
for  a  day ;  and  I  cannot  conceive  Californians  in 
earnest  in  their  cry  of  "the  Chinese  must  go/'  when 
they  take  so  little  pains  to  protect  themselves.  To 
take  all  the  Chinaman  has  to  give,  and  then  curse  him 


1 62  ON   THE   WING. 

for  letting  it  be  taken,  is  rather  a  superficial  way  of 
settling  a  difficulty. 

In  a  city  where  people  with  one  or  two  millions 
seem  to  be  as  common  as  those  with  as  many  hundred 
thousands  in  other  corporations,  and  where  local  pride 
and  affection  run  so  high,  it  is  a  pity  some  large, 
generous,  rational  plan  cannot  be  devised  for  irrigation, 
and  properly  carried  out.  With  plenty  of  water  to  lay 
the  dust  in  the  streets  and  cover  the  shifting  sand-hills 
beyond  with  verdure,  the  first  immense  stride  would 
be  made  in  improvement.  With  shade  trees  lining 
those  beautiful  wide  avenues,  and  filling  in  the  open 
corner  spaces  which  come  so  often  where  three  streets 
meet,  San  Francisco  would  be  a  joy  to  look  at  in  sum- 
mer time,  just  as  all  agree  it  is  in  winter.  If,  in 
addition  to  this,  the  swift-climbing  hills  which  rise 
from  the  water  on  every  side  were  laid  out  in  terraces, 
I  think  it  would  be  one  of  the  most  beautiful  cities  in 
the  new  world.  The  exquisite  bay,  with  its  islands 
and  dusky  background  of  foot-hills  climbing  and  fading 
all  around  the  horizon ;  the  fine  outline  of  Mt.  Diablo, 
as  it  shows  in  the  distance;  the  ever-present  beauty 
of  flowers  adding  its  graciousness  to  out-door  life,  and 
the  pleasant  impression  of  comfort  which  so  many 
pretty  small  houses  make,  interspersed  with  palatial 
larger  ones,  give  all  the  requisites  for  great  beauty. 
It  has  everything  needful  but  water.  Out  in  the 
suburbs,  the  country  is  green  as  a  garden,  where 
windmills  are  employed  extensively  to  irrigate  from 
artesian  wells  or  from  ditches  brought  down  from  the 
mountains  beyond.  I  counted  from  the  car-window,  as 


ON   THE   WING.  163 

we  stopped  for  a  moment  one  day  at  Valencia  street, 
thirty-six  of  these  enormous  whirligigs  turning  slowly 
in  the  languid  air,  and  giving  a  Dutch  aspect  to  the 
whole  country-side  they  were  in,  with  its  small  houses 
and  beautifully  cared-for  market  gardens. 

If  we  were  older  travellers,  who  could  take  the 
goods  the  gods  provide,  and  never  pause  to  think  of 
any  other ;  or,  if  we  had  come  fresh  from  the  inclem- 
ency of  a  New  England  winter,  there  would  be  more 
wonderment  and  more  love  for  this  golden  land  which 
puzzles  while  it  pleases  us.  It  would  be  like  the 
beginning  of  new  life.  We  would  see  only  the  beauty 
and  such  little  stings  as  sharper  air  or  an  e very-day 
fog-bank  would  be  trifles  beneath  notice.  But  now 
one  has  all  the  memories  of  the  loveliness  at  home  to 
contend  with.  We  know  that  balmy  air  and  singing 
birds,  daisies  and  buttercups,  the  universal  freshness 
of  youthful  nature,  are  abroad  on  the  hills  and  fields 
of  June,  so  that  the  sharp  atmosphere  and  clinging 
mist,  the  dust  and  imperfection  here,  is  more  than  ever 
trying.  Especially  when  in  conservatories,  one  comes 
across,  as  we  did  yesterday,  a  handful  of  long,  spind- 
ling, straggling  daisies,  set  in  a  gorgeous  flower-pot, 
tended  with  care,  and  looking  delicate  as  things 
tended  with  care  usually  are,  and  one  remembers 
the  affluent  fields  of  regal  gold  and  white  margue- 
rites on  the  sunny  slopes  of  Green  Hill,  is  one 
struck  with  the  inconsistencies  of  nature.  All  the 
luxury  of  wild  lupin,  in  long  spikes  of  blue  and 
yellow,  growing  through  the  meadows,  will  never 
equal  in  beauty  the  wild  rose  hedges,  the  clover  tops 


164  ON   THE    WING. 

and  daisies,  of  the  fragrant  fields   that  lie  beside  the 
Atlantic. 

The  climate  of  San  Francisco  is  essentially  its 
own,  however.  Ten  miles  away  in  any  direction,  you 
escape  the  direful,  daily  winds,  the  dust  and  dis- 
comfort. Cross  the  ferry  to  Oakland,  sail  down  to 
Saucelito  or  San  Rafael,  take  the  roads  leading  in  any 
direction  toward  the  interior,  and  you  reach  shelter 
before  you  are  gone  an  hour.  After  ten  miles,  you 
begin  to  feel  warm;  after  twenty,  you  are  in  summer 
again,  especially  if  there  be  water  near.  On  the  way 
to  Sacramento,  the  river-bed  widens  into  broad,  shal- 
low meadows,  filled  with  cattle  standing  knee-deep  in 
the  placid  waters,  and  crossed  now  and  then  by  flights 
of  birds,  or  made  picturesque  by  tall  white  herons, 
standing  immovable  amid  the  sedge,  as  if  just  out  of  a 
Japanese  picture.  Sacramento  itself,  lying  in  the 
midst  of  these  moist  green  fields,  may  easily  be,  as 
we  understand  it  was,  unhealthy;  but  at  the  same 
time  the  abundance  of  shade  and  width  of  the  fine, 
regular  streets,  make  it  particularly  refreshing  to 
look  at.  A  pretty  fashion  is  a  wide  upper  balcony 
built  out  from  the  second  story  of  houses  and  stores, 
shading  the  sidewalk  below,  and  fringed  with  flowers 
or  trailing  plants  above.  It  gives  a  half  foreign  look 
to  a  purely  American  town;  so  do  the  numberless 
pretty  small  cottages,  set  in  gardens,  bright  always 
with  bewildering  flowers,  roses  eight  inches  across, 
walls  of  white  honeysuckle  and  stacks  of  oleanders. 
I  never  saw  in  any  other  place  such  a  variety  of  shade 
trees  as  in  this  city.  Locusts  with  long,  fragrant, 


ON  THE   WING.  1 65" 

drooping  blossoms,  elms,  white  oaks,  pines,  eucalyptus,, 
even  fig  and  orange-trees,  were  all  to  be  found,  over- 
arching the  clean  plank  sidewalks ;  while  in  the  gar- 
dens, our  New  England  orchard  trees,  covered  with 
bloom  and  fruit,  brought  a  fragrance  of  home  that  made 
them  still  sweeter.  We  happened  on  a  poor  season  to 
test  the  resources  of  the  country  in  fruit,  however. 
We  listen  to  melting  stories  of  the  deliciousness  of 
this  or  that  dainty,  to  moving  pictures  of  baskets  full 
of  toothsomeness  for  a  quarter,  that  would  cost  a  poor 
man's  fortune  at  home,  and  we  groan,  tortured  by 
unavailing  longing;  for  we  believe  every  word  we 
hear.  Some  peculiarity  of  the  climate  makes  one  not 
only  ready,  but  anxious  to  swallow  the  biggest  state- 
ments. A  kind  of  moral  inflation  takes  possession  of 
one.  You  may  not  see  grapes  as  big  as  walnuts,  in 
bunches  as  large  as  a  camel's  hump,  but  you  know 
they  are  there,  just  as  surely.  Anything,  everything 
is  possible.  Apricots  were  just  beginning  to  come  in, 
but  were  yet  of  poor  quality;  peaches  were  small  and 
hard ;  apples  only  good  for  sauce  ;  strawberries,  from 
some  peculiarity  of  weather,  plentiful  but  sour,  and 
wanting  the  delicious  aroma  of  our  native  berry;  it 
was  too  early  for  figs  and  pomegranates,  and  too  late 
for  oranges,  so  that  only  the  always  wonderful  cher- 
ries answered  our  preconceived  ideas  of  California 
fruit.  The  vegetables  left  nothing  to  be  desired.  It 
should  be  the  paradise  of  poor  men ;  for  the  climate 
does  not  require  the  use  of  much  meat,  and  every 
form  of  succulent  and  delicious  vegetable  product 
literally  overflows  the  markets  and  produce  shops. 


l66  ON   THE   WING. 

The  Grahamites,  and  other  sects  that  believe  the 
eating  of  flesh  harmful,  ought  to  colonize  Eldorado. 
They  would  certainly  have  every  opportunity  for  prac- 
ticing their  pet  precepts. 

We  found  all  things  except  fluids  sold  by  the  pound, 
which  is  a  much  more  rational  rule  of  measurement 
than  quarts  and  pecks.  One  knows  in  this  way  the 
amount  one  is  buying  and  paying  for,  which  one  cer- 
tainly does  not  five  times  out  of  ten,  by  our  dry  meas- 
ure. Who  has  not  at  some  time  or  other  of  her  life 
looked  in  awe  and  admiration  at  the  amount  of  spinach 
or  the  number  of  large  potatoes  which  go  to  make  up  a 
green-grocer's  bushel  ?  By  weight,  one  gets  an  abso- 
lute quantity,  while  by  measure  one  purchases  different 
degrees  of  uncertainty,  according  to  the  state  of  the 
market. 

We  found,  too,  an  utter  ignorance  of  the  small  coins 
called  cents,  two  cents,  and  nickels.  A  certain  large- 
mindedness  of  the  inhabitants  gets  into  the  eyes  and 
prevents  them  from  seeing  anything  smaller  than  a 
"bit"  or  ten  cents.  The  rest  they  call  "chicken 
feed."  The  newsboys  offer  you  two  papers  for  a  bit, 
so  as  to  overcome  the  degrading  necessity  of  receiving 
five  cents  for  one ;  the  boot-black  puts  on  his  boss 
shine  for  a  bit,  except  in  some  few  low-toned  quarters 
frequented  by  impecuniosity ;  the  entire  legion  of  side- 
walk hucksters  and  perambulating  showmen  of  striking 
bargains,  put  their  wares  upon  the  basis  of  a  bit,  and 
mount  from  that  into  the  golden  heights  of  the  eagle. 
I  am  not  sure  whether  bills  are  tabooed  from  some 
idea  that  the  national  banks  are  becoming  insolvent, 


ON  THE  WING.  167 

but  we  never  saw  a  note  during  our  stay  in  that  won- 
derful country.  All  large  change  was  paid  in  gold, 
and  small  in  silver,  which  added  weight  to  our  pockets 
if  it  did  nothing  else.  Perhaps  that  is  why  there  are 
so  many  heavy  men  there. 

On  the  whole  we  heartily  liked  San  Francisco  in 
spite  of  its  dreadful  climate.  The  generous  amplitude 
of  its  dimensions,  the  generous  kindness  of  its  people, 
the  immense  strides  it  seems  capable  of  making  once 
its  feet  turn  in  the  right  direction,  its  barbaric  gor- 
geousness  of  adornment,  its  superb  contempt  for  small 
coin  of  any  sort,  the  fascination  of  its  "  dummies  "  as 
they  breathlessly  whirl  you  up  the  outrageous  little 
hills  —  all  these  and  many  other  reasons  force  you  to 
love  it  in  spite  of  discomfort.  If  we  had  only  come 
upon  it  in  winter,  how  at  once  and  forever  we  would 
have  been  its  fascinated  slaves  like  the  many  thousands 
of  bewitched  travellers  it  has  won  already.  But  they 
must  take  more  care  of  their  sewerage.  There  is  too 
much  typhoid  malaria  now  for  solid  comfort.  And 
after  seeing  what  the  lack  of  rain  can  do  in  that  won- 
derfully endowed  country,  can  it  be  possible  that  any 
of  us  will  ever  rail  at  the  blessed  summer  storms  at 
home  again  ?  May  my  right  hand  lose  its  cunning  and 
may  I  be  anathema,  if  spoiled  pleasure  or  crumpled 
finery  ever  draw  one  word  of  lamentation  or  reproach 
from  me,  though  the  rain  should  flatten  out  my  best 
Sunday  hat  half  a  dozen  times  in  the  course  of  this 
present  season.  For  how  much  worse  off  we  would 
be  without  it. 

If  every  person  leaving  San  Francisco  for  the  East 


1 68  ON   THE    WING. 

Is  obliged  to  measure  off  the  quantity  of  red  tape  we 
saw  at  the  ticket  office  yesterday,  in  signing  and  coun- 
tersigning and  witnessing,  I  wonder  they  do  not  give 
up  the  unequal  contest  in  disgust.  The  one  railroad 
which  by  right  divine  governs  the  Pacific  coast  seems 
to  make  the  most  of  its  prerogatives  ;  but  it  is  a  ques- 
tion whether  throwing  so  many  barriers  in  the  way  of 
buying  a  passage  is  any  material  aid  to  business. 
Perhaps  it  is  on  that  principle  of  human  nature  which 
makes  perverse  longing  dwell  most  fondly  on  what  is 
hardest  to  get.  We  never  more  fully  appreciated  the 
value  of  being  excursionists,  than  when  the  little  red 
book  was  handed  over,  signed,  sealed,  and  delivered 
again,  in  a  twinkling,  and  we  walked  off,  free  as  air, 
while  the  herd  of  regular  passengers  stood,  ruminant 
and  glum,  waiting  each  his  slow  turn.  Fancy  an 
Eastern  populace  waiting  in  that  way  for  the  privilege 
of  being  allowed  to  pay  a  railroad  fare  ! 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

AMONG    THE     MINES. 

ONE  who  goes  to  California  and  returns  without 
having  seen  anything  of  its  mining  interests, 
has  lost  unknowingly  the  key  which  solves 
many  of  the  problems  of  society  there.  The  romance, 
as  well  as  the  reality  of  the  history  of  the  State,  is 
bound  up  in  its  gold  mines.  The  discoveries  which 
in  '49  pushed  the  then  almost  unknown  territory  into 
a  prominence  unique  in  the  annals  of  civilization, 
have  been  going  on  in  greater  or  less  degree  ever 
since,  so  that  the  California  of  to-day  throughout  its 
whole  extent  is  still  honeycombed  with  those  deposits 
of  golden  sand  which  made  it  the  Pactolus  of  the 
world.  We  do  not  hear  any  longer  of  the  wild  fever 
of  excitement  which  seized  men  in  those  earlier  days, 
when  home,  friends,  health  and  even  life  were  thrown 
away  like  straws  before  the  fair  winds  which  were 
supposed  to  lead  to  fortune  ;  a  certain  reticence  that 
comes  with  years  and  experience,  and  a  fixed  method 
which  takes  the  place  of  the  old-time  haphazard  ways, 
have  allowed  a  semi-obscurity  to  gather  over  what  is 
still  as  active  an  interest  there  as  manufactures  are  to 
New  England,  or  wheat  fields  to  Nebraska.  The  wild 
gambling  of  the  stock  exchange,  with  its  insincere 


170  ON   THE   WING. 

manipulation  of  insecure  property,  is  one  thing,  while 
the  earnest  business  which  returns  honest  profits  on 
honest  investments  through  the  length  and  breadth  of 
the  land,  is  another.  What  we  have  been  taught  to 
look  upon  as  the  most  chimerical  and  rabid  specula- 
tion into  which  fortune-seekers  can  enter,  becomes, 
west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  the  simple  natural 
business  of  the  land.  Around  it,  in  the  small  mining 
camps,  grow  up  the  different  industries  which  make  a 
people  prosperous  and  a  country  powerful.  One  never 
realizes  the  power  of  gold  so  fully  as  here,  in  the  land 
which  is  its,  by  birthright.  Let  but  the  yellow  dust 
show  itself  on  hill,  or  plain,  or  wild  mountain  canon, 
in  bare  desert  or  fertile  valley,  and  instantly  from 
solitude  and  silence  the  dead  world  wakes  to  excite- 
ment of  life.  People  gather,  houses  spring  up,  mills, 
stores,  schools,  churches  rise,  as  if  called  by  a  fairy 
wand,  and  sun  themselves  in  the  light  of  prosperity. 
By-and-by,  when  the  supply  of  ore  is  exhausted,  the 
thriving  settlement,  like  a  body  from  which  the  soul 
has  departed,  dissolves,  and  is  gone  almost  as  quickly 
as  it  came,  unless,  meantime,  it  has  developed  other 
resources.  The  pick  and  shovel  travel  away  in  search 
of  other  hidden  treasure ;  only  the  devastated  moun- 
tain-side and  deserted  "  camp "  remain  to  tell  that 
man  ever  dwelt  there. 

Nothing  in  the  West  is  more  sadly  strange  to 
Eastern  eyes  than  one  of  these  ruined  settlements. 
It  gives  one  a  ghostly,  unsettled  feeling,  to  drive 
through  the  village  street,  with  its  rows  of  closed 
cottages  on  either  hand,  grass  growing  over  the  door- 


ON  THE   WING.  17  I 

steps,  wild  vines  hiding  the  dim  windows,  and  small 
gardens  overgrown  with  the  sturdy  weeds,  which 
fasten  like  squatters  upon  the  lost  heritage  of  in- 
dustry. Here  and  there,  a  single  inhabited  house 
makes  the  rest  doubly  desolate  by  contrast.  An  air 
of  mystery  and  desolation,  which  never  belongs  evert 
to  the  wildest  or  most  remote  regions  where  nature 
alone  holds  sway,  rests  about  these  silent  dwellings. 
Something  of  peace  and  fitness  goes  forever  from  a 
place  which  man  has  once  used  and  then  discarded,, 
and  no  length  of  time  ever  completely  brings  it  back 
again.  The  most  isolated  spot  on  which  the  eye  caa 
rest,  so  long  as  it  is  left  alone  to  the  sweet  influences 
of  the  natural  order,  does  not  impress  one  with  the 
same  sense  of  loneliness  which  a  place  once  human- 
ized and  made  conscious  of  man's  presence  retains 
forever  after.  I  remember  one  day,  while  driving" 
through  a  certain  deserted  village,  noting  one  particu- 
lar little  cottage,  built  with  more  care  than  its  silent 
neighbors,  that  must  some  time  have  been  a  cozy  home 
for  some  small  household.  A  porch,  with  a  four-paned 
window  in  each  side,  and  a  broad  seat  below  them,, 
jutted  out  into  a  little  garden,  in  which  two  tall  clumps 
of  calla-lilies  and  a  glowing  bush  of  red  geraniums 
held  their  own  yet  against  nettles  and  mountain 
sorrell.  On  the  threshold  before  the  open  door,  two- 
tiny,  brown  lizards  lay  basking  in  the  afternoon- 
warmth,  the  gleam  in  their  bright  jewel-like  eyes  alone 
showing  that  they  were  alive.  A  long  ray  of  sunshine 
flickered  across  the  floor  and  died  within  the  open 
fireplace  in  the  chimney  opposite,  and  the  two  small- 


172  ON   THE   WING. 

paned  casements  were  covered  with  dusty  curtains  of 
cobwebs.  Outside,  amid  a  heap  of  useless  remnants 
of  household  utensils,  a  rude  wooden  baby-carriage, 
broken  and  weather-stained,  made  the  picture  doubly 
pathetic.  It  seemed  as  if,  indeed, 

"  Life  and  thought  had  gone  away 

Side  by  side, 

Leaving  door  and  window  wide  ; 
—  Careless  tenants  they!  " 

It  was  as  we  rode  into  the  foot-hills  beyond  the 
valley  of  the  Sacramento,  to  see  a  little  of  the  mining 
phase  of  California  life  while  it  was  still  at  its  best, 
and  to  visit  one  or  two  prosperous  mines,  in  order  that 
we  might  bring  back  some  definite  idea  of  what  makes 
vital  interest  for  so  many,  that  we  first  saw  these  sad, 
neglected  little  camps.  For  sixty  or  eighty  miles 
after  leaving  the  city,  the  railroad  passes  through  fields 
of  wheat,  stretching  out  of  sight  and  covering  the 
land  at  this  season  of  the  year  with  the  lovely  pale 
gold  of  ripened  grain.  Immense  machines  for  reaping 
and  threshing  moved  at  intervals  through  the  billowy, 
yellow  expanse,  so  that  one  man  accomplished  the 
work  of  a  dozen.  Where  steam  was  required,  the 
wheat-straw,  after  winnowing,  was  used  for  fuel ;  other- 
wise it  was  plowed  into  the  earth  again  to  act  as  a 
fertilizer  for  the  next  crop,  or  used  instead  of  hay  for 
fodder.  The  fruitful  soil  gives  back  two  harvests  in 
one  year,  always  presuming  that  water  is  supplied,  for 
dame  nature  is  a  thirsty  queen  even  in  this  lavish 
country.  Leaving  the  line  of  the  railroad,  we  drove 
for  six  or  eight  miles,  this  being  the  width  of  the 


ON   THE   WING.  173 

fertile  belt  in  the  valley,  through  a  repetition  of  these 
harvest  scenes,  before  beginning  to  ascend  the  foot- 
hills ;  then  up  a  gradual  rise  through  a  rolling  country 
full  of  green  glades  and  wooded  hillsides,  that  was 
more  beautiful,  so  far  as  simple  landscape  loveliness 
goes,  than  anything  we  had  yet  seen  in  California. 
There  was  nothing  of  the  grandeur  or  vastness  which 
made  the  road  into  the  Yosemite  wonderful;  but 
such  deep  dells,  and  fair,  sloping  meadows,  such 
curving  heights  and  graceful  back-ground  of  rounded 
summits  climbing  into  the  clear,  pale  sky,  such  a 
wealth  of  beautiful  trees  spreading  grateful  shade 
over  the  hot  road,  and  stretching  in  stately  groves 
far  up  to  the  horizon,  we  had  not  met  before.  We 
made  the  journey  in  a  private  carriage  behind  a  team 
of  the  small  but  powerful  horses  which  are  so  com- 
mon here.  I  wonder  no  longer  at  the  old  grandees  of 
England,  who  used  to  make  the  tour  of  the  European 
continent  after  this  delightful  fashion.  Next  to  walk- 
ing, it  gives  the  most  lingering,  loving  look  at  the 
beautiful  world  through  which  you  pass,  and  one 
exquisite  scene  merges  into  another  by  gentle  gra- 
dations instead  of  the  sudden  whirling  from  post  to 
pillar  of  the  railroad  car.  Given  fair  weather  and  a 
pair  of  good  horses,  with  a  driver  who  knows  what 
he  is  about,  and  there  is  no  such  absolute  luxury  as 
this  mode  of  sight-seeing.  But  it  would  require  a 
Croesus  to  be  able  to  afford  it,  so  we  must  wait  for  the 
millenium  before  it  comes  to  pass  that  we  can  indulge 
in  it.  The  winding  road  curved  up  hill  and  down 
dale ;  waving  grain  fields  faded  into  the  distance 


174  •  ON  THE  WING. 

"behind,  and  spicy  undergrowth  of  small  pines  and 
hemlocks  crept  nearer  in  the  foreground.  The  brush 
ivas  alive  with  quail,  which  ran  across  the  road  and 
into  their  haunts  by  dozens.  Jack-rabbits  scampered 
from  their  warrens,  or  sat  with  long  ears  quivering 
almost  within  reach  of  the  whip-lash,  if  one  could  be 
wicked  enough  to  use  it.  Now  and  again  a  small 
flock  of  the  same  dirty,  draggled  sheep  we  had  met 
so  often,  (how  wofully  unpicturesque  sheep  are  in  real 
life)  or  a  smaller  flock  still  of  the  white,  silky,  long- 
haired goats,  browsed  on  a  pasture  near  the  road,  but 
there  was  no  sign  of  house  or  human  being.  Once 
a  group  of  Chinese  teamsters,  driving  half-a-dozen 
market  wagons,  stopped  us  to  inquire  eagerly  concern- 
ing a  law  which  had  been  passed  a  day  or  two  before, 
restricting  the  use  of  water  in  hydraulic  mining.  The 
long-contested  battle  between  farmers  and  miners, 
as  to  control  of  water  privileges,  had  just  received 
fresh  impetus  from  some  judicial  decision  in  favor  of 
the  former;  and,  as  all  the  interests  of  this  portion 
of  the  country  depended  upon  the  mines,  there  was 
naturally  great  excitement.  "  If  the  mines  are  n't 
allowed  to  run,  you'll  all  have  to  skip  out,  Johnnie, 
my  boy,"  said  our  friend.  "  O  yes  !  But  mine  gotta 
workee  allee  samee  ! "  answered  the  practical  heathen, 
with  a  shake  of  the  head  that  set  his  long  pigtail 
dangling  like  a  drunken  pendulum.  It  was  no  use  to 
try  to  shake  his  faith  in  the  future  of  the  country. 

Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  Chinese  are  hewers  of  wood 
and  drawers  of  water.  Whatever  is  too  hard  or  too 
heavy  for  white  men's  bone  and  muscle,  falls  to  the 


ON  THE  WING.  175 

lot  of  these  helots  of  the  west.  Their  patience,  their 
endurance,  and  their  most  frugal  habits,  enable  them  to 
live  and  thrive  where  the  most  prudent  pale-face  would 
starve  miserably.  They  make  vegetables  grow  in  the 
midst  of  barren  plains ;  they  wash  riches  out  of  the 
refuse  "  tailings  "  of  the  gold  flumes  ;  they  pit  their 
stolid  capacity  for  labor  against  the  brains  and  higher 
intelligence  of  their  employers,  and  always  win  their 
point  of  making  money.  Every  Chinaman  who  does 
not  die,  or  make  so  large  a  fortune  that  he  becomes 
imbued  with  the  Americanism  of  wanting  to  make 
more,  returns  to  his  own  country,  within  a  few  years, 
master  of  the  five  hundred  dollars,  which  assures  him 
a  competence  for  life.  We  met  them  in  forty  different 
situations, — always  busy,  always  smiling,  and  always 
apparently  content.  It  made  us  almost  desire  that  we 
might  be  allowed  to  tackle  this  extremely  Eastern 
question  at  home,  to  see  the  deftness,  the  swiftness, 
and  the  astonishing  capacity  those  engaged  in  house- 
work showed.  A  little  such  healthy  competition  might 
stimulate  the  jaded  energies  of  our  present  household 
brigade  to  real  earnestness  in  fulfilling  their  duties. 
At  present,  I  believe  no  place  in  the  world  claiming 
a  high  degree  of  civilization  suffers  more  from  the 
tyranny  or  stupidity  of  untrained  service,  than  the  New 
England  states.  To  do  the  minimum  of  labor  at  the 
maximum  of  price,  seems  to  be  of  late  years  the 
watchword  of  the  order ;  and  an  honest  pride  in  fur- 
thering the  best  interests  of  the  employer  is  one  of  the 
lost  arts  in  their  kingdom.  There  are  jewels  among 
them,  to  be  sure,  but  jewels  never  come  in  mass ;  and 


176  ON  THE  WING. 

the  ordinary  house  servant,  one  of  the  rank  and  file, 
in  an  ordinary  family,  is  apt  to  cause  nearly  as  much 
expenditure  of  moral  force  as  she  saves  in  physical 
exertion.  The  Chinamen  have  not  been  educated  to 
this  point  yet.  The  instinct  of  centuries  of  submission 
makes  them  willing  to  work,  so  long  as  any  work  re- 
mains to  be  performed.  Some  peculiar  race  develop- 
ment renders  them  exact  to  minuteness  in  reproducing 
what  has  been  shown  or  explained ;  and  great  personal 
neatness,  which  is  one  of  the  last  things  with  which 
they  are  popularly  credited,  make  them  very  valuable 
parts  of  domestic  machinery,  so  far  as  material  well- 
being  is  concerned.  The  moral  aspect  of  the  question 
I  do  not  enter  upon  at  all ;  it  would  need  closer  study 
and  longer  acquaintance  to  dare  offer  an  opinion  on 
that  point. 

But  to  return  to  the  road  through  the  foot-hills. 
The  little  mountain  streams  we  passed  were  thick  and 
muddy.  Here  and  there  a  level  place  was  covered  with 
a  smooth,  shining  deposit  of  yellowish  clay.  These 
were  the  "slickens  "  which  farmers  declare  are  ruining 
their  prospects  by  destroying  the  fertilizing  power  of 
the  water.  The  pure  streams,  after  being  brought  in 
ditches  and  subjected  to  the  uses  of  the  miners,  come 
down  to  them  so  impregnated  with  fine  sand  and 
debris,  that  they  are  useless  for  irrigation.  It  is  to 
reach  some  fair  settlement  of  this  vexed  question  as  to 
who  owns  the  water  that  this  long  litigation  has  gone 
on  from  year  to  year,  and  seems  to-day  as  far  from 
final  adjustment  as  ever.  The  only  decision  must 
be  in  some  form  of  compromise.  Either  side  has 


ON  THE  WING.  177 

rights  that  can  never  be  entirely  set  aside.  Meantime 
each  party  goes  its  own  way,  irrespective  of  judge 
and  jury. 

The  little  mining  camp  we  entered  just  at  sunset, 
in  the  green  hollow  of  the  hills,  with  its  one  strag- 
gling street  galloping  down  one  steep  side,  and  all 
the  public-spirited  buildings  of  the  place  hemming  it 
closely  in,  was  one  of  the  prettiest  villages  we  ever 
looked  at.  Even  the  rival  grocery  stores,  each  with 
its  partisan  groups  of  lounging  miners  enjoying  their 
evening  smoke,  wore  a  look  of  interest  to  us.  The 
roof  of  each  broad  piazza  extended  nearly  across  the 
road,  and  made  unique  porte-cocheres  for  the  service 
of  man  and  beast.  The  two  little  churches  faced 
each  other  across  the  dusty  street;  the  two  hotels 
glared  into  each  other's  windows  ;  the  most  home-like 
small  cottages  we  had  seen  out  of  New  England  nestled 
in  their  bright  gardens,  half  hidden  behind  vines  of 
gigantic  roses,  or  climbing  honeysuckle,  and  screened 
by  clumps  of  red  and  white  oleanders  as  large  as  small 
trees.  In  one  place  the  stream  through  the  great  ditch 
which  furnished  water-power  for  the  mines,  was  carried 
under  the  road  with  a  deep  sound  like  a  cataract; 
otherwise  all  was  still.  It  was  as  different  from  the 
harsh  ideai  our  fancies  had  made  of  the  baseness  and 
blankness  of  a  mining  camp  as  can  well  be  imagined, 
and  we  found  the  inner  life  of  the  houses  as  pleasant 
as  their  outer  seeming.  There  were  whorls  of  Japan- 
ese fans  on  the  walls,  and  fluttering  muslin  curtains 
on  the  windows ;  there  were  pictures  and  easy-chairs 
and  rugs ;  there  were  recent  books  and  the  Eastern 
12 


178  ON   THE   WING. 

magazines,  so  that,  except  for  the  big  summer  kitchen, 
with  its  folding  walls,  which  could  make  it  at  will  either 
an  open  shed  or  a  cozy  room,  there  was  nothing  to  re- 
mind one  of  the  great  continent  between  us  and  home. 

The  next  few  days  among  the  mines  were  real  ex- 
periences. One  of  the  celebrated  blue  gravel  banks, 
two  hundred  feet  high,  was  being  washed  to  powder  by 
a  gigantic  stream  of  water  directed  at  will  against  its 
surface  by  a  pipe  with  nozzles  ten  inches  in  diameter, 
through  which  the  stream  tore  with  such  fury  and 
force  that  everything  crumbled  before  it.  Masses 
weighing  tons  were  crumbled  into  atoms  in  this  way, 
and  swept  down  the  long  flumes  and  sluices,  dropping, 
meantime,  their  precious  burden  of  yellow  dust  to 
amalgamate  with  the  quicksilver  spread  below.  The 
water  which  did  all  this  was  brought  in  a  continuous 
ditch,  thirty-seven  miles  long,  from  its  source  in.  the 
lofty  mountains  of  the  upper  country,  sometimes 
bridged  across  ravines,  sometimes  tunnelled  through 
hillsides,  and  watched  along  its  entire  length  by  a 
gang  of  overseers  who  patrolled  its  banks  so  many 
times  every  twenty-four  hours. 

At  stated  times  the  stream  is  turned  off,  the  wooden 
flumes  cleaned  of  their  contents,  the  quicksilver 
evaporated  in  immense  ovens  and  condensed  again  in 
retorts  for  future  use,  while  the  precious,  sordid, 
blessed,  wicked  metal,  the 

"  Gold,  gold,  gold,  gold  ! 
Bright  and  heavy,  hard  and  cold," 

is  run  off  into  molds  and  sent  off  to  be  coined  into 
that  power  which  is  able  to  do  so  much  good — and  so 


ON   THE   WING.  179 

little.  At  first  our  unused  eyes  found  gold  in  every- 
thing that  glittered ;  but  we  learned  soon  that  the 
real  article  had  much  less  shimmer  and  shine  about  it. 
It  was  not  the  first  time,  nor  unfortunately  the  last, 
that  base  metals  have  put  on  the  false  semblance  of 
preciousness  and  deceived  ignorance,  while  real  worth 
remained  undiscovered  near  by.  But  we  soon  trained 
our  perceptions  and  now,  if  you  want  judges  of  the 
richness  of  blue  gravel  peppered  all  over  with  fine, 
dull  spots,  which  hold  within  them  such  a  heritage  of 
power  for  good  or  evil,  we  are  ready  to  be  called 
in  as  experts. 

In  this  hydraulic  mining,  the  men  employed  have 
many  advantages.  They  are  in  the  free  air  and  sun- 
shine; the  work  is  all  above  ground,  where  the  fair 
face  of  the  world  still  smiles  upon  them.  There  is 
something  inspiring  in  this  search  after  the  treasure 
which  nature  had  hidden  away  so  carefully  in  her 
river-beds,  washed  down  from  the  eternal  mountains 
thousands  and  thousands  of  years  ago.  One  would 
like  to  go  at  it  one's  self,  and  wrest  from  the  bald, 
towering  cliff  above,  the  secret  hoard  which  makes 
every  foot  of  it  precious.  One  would  like  to  change 
places  for  awhile  with  any  of  those  great  long-booted, 
red-shirted  fellows,  hairy  and  brawny,  who  stand  so 
superbly  in  the  midst  of  the  roaring,  rushing  stream, 
guiding  its  course  and  helping  its  work.  It  looks  like 
pleasant  and  healthful,  if  hard,  labor,  with  nothing 
dark  or  ugly  about  it,  except  the  "  slickens  "  which  go 
sweeping  down  to  flood  the  bright  meadows  beyond. 
We  would  like  to  have  seen  one  of  the  blasts  that' 


l8o  ON   THE   WING 

from  time  to  time  tear  the  perpendicular  walls  of  the 
old  river-bed  asunder  with  a  charge  of  thirty  or  fifty 
thousand  pounds  of  gunpowder,  so  that  the  whole 
visible  hillside  quivers,  as  if  in  the  throes  of  an  earth- 
quake, and  breaks  in  an  avalanche  of  dust  and  broken 
fragments  on  the  plain  below.  Eye-witnesses  of  some 
such  former  events  gave  us  graphic  descriptions  in 
the  patois  of  the  country  of  the  fury  and  force,  "the 
all-fired  cussedness  of  the  way  the  thing  lit  out." 
Losing  such  opportunities  for  sight-seeing  is  one  of 
the  unhallowed  consequences  of  living,  as  we  do,  too 
close  to  sunrise. 

But  the  quartz  mining  which  we  saw  a  day  or  two 
after,  with  its  thunder  of  infernal  machinery  stamping 
and  crushing  the  rock  fed  to  it,  with  its  fourteen 
hundred  foot  shaft  leading  men  down  to  the  bowels 
of  the  earth,  to  work,  cramped  for  room,  panting  for 
air,  one  small  candle  only  making  a  spot  of  light  in 
the  dreadful  darkness,  how  different  the  toil  for  gold 
looked  in  this  !  Even  in  the  beginning,  before  it  is  yet 
refined  or  purified,  before  it  has  become  the  medium 
for  buying,  and  selling,  and  bartering,  and  bargaining, 
how  much  hardship  and  suffering  it  causes  already ! 
No  wonder  the  Spartans  made  their  criminals  wear 
gems  and  gold,  in  order  to  dissuade  honest  people 
from  love  of  the  base,  bright  baubles.  Standing 
at  the  entrance  to  the  dark  chasm  below,  while  the 
president  explained  how  many  millions  in  how  many 
years  had  been  paid  out  to  complacent  stockholders, 
one  could  only  think  of  the  inscription  which  Dante 
placed  over  the  entrance  to  his  Inferno.  No  doubt  if 


ON  THE   WING.  iSl 

the  superintendent  and  his  regiment  of  subalterns 
could  have  read  my  musings,  they  would  have  laughed 
with  scorn  at  the  bare  idea  of  any  one  being  de- 
pressed, in  the  shaft-house  of  a  flourishing  gold  mine, 
with  plenty  of  ore  in  sight.  But  I  would  almost  rather 
never  know  where  the  treasure  came  from;  there's 
too  much  "bubble,  bubble,  toil  and  trouble,"  from  the 
very  commencement.  It  was  a  relief  to  hear  that 
accidents  are  extremely  rare,  and  that  the  men  are 
perfectly  satisfied  with  their  work.  They  are  well 
paid,  able  to  live  comfortably,  and  the  life  acquires  in 
time  a  great  fascination  for  them. 

The  amount  of  dividends  paid  in  a  quiet  way  by 
such  mines  as  this,  unknown  to  fame  and  the  stock- 
board,  owned  by  a  few  prosperous  individuals,  and 
only  familiar  to  the  region  in  which  they  are  placed,  is 
simply  astonishing.  This  quartz  mine,  of  which  we 
have  spoken  last,  is  an  example.  Bought  for  a  trifle 
in  1865  by  eight  or  ten  men,  and  worked  ever  since,  it 
has  missed  but  five  times  in  paying  a  large  monthly 
dividend  on  the  original  shares,  while  putting  up  at 
the  same  time  stamp-mills,  refining  and  leaching  works, 
and  giving  employment  directly  to  several  hundred 
men.  .One  can  scarcely  estimate  the  number  they 
employ  indirectly.  A  business  that  buys  eighty  thou- 
sand cords  of  wood  yearly  for  private  use,  reaches  out 
so  far  that  it  is  hard  to  gather  it  all  together. 

On  the  way  between  these  two  successful  mines, 
we  passed  many  others,  some  moderately  prosperous, 
some  just  "  striking  it ; "  others,  alas !  like  the  Luck 
of  Roaring  Camp,  after  the  luck  had  left  it,  stranded 


1 82  ON   THE   WING. 

and  forsaken.  But  the  pretty  valley  towns,  full  of 
bright,  comfortable  homes,  with  the  general  air  of 
cheeriness  which  conies  with  prosperity,  were  suf- 
ficient guarantee  that  all  the  golden  days  were  not  yet 
over  in  California.  Many  of  them,  like  that  of  Grass 
Valley,  were  particularly  delightful  spots  for  tired  eyes 
to  rest  on.  Nestled  in  the  bosom  of  the  ever-beautiful 
hills,  the  pointed  roofs  of  its  pretty  cottages,  only 
seen  here  and  there,  amid  the  wealth  of  embowering 
greenery,  lavish  in  flowers  and  fragrance,  with  a  sturdy 
backbone  of  thriving  business  streets,  a  whole  staff  of 
churches,  a  regiment  of  bright  homes,  and — thank 
heaven !  —  only  a  corporal's  guard  of  liquor  shops,  it 
was  charming  enough  to  make  one  desire  to  stay  in  it. 
As  a  rule,  in  the  west,  the  saloons  outnumber  all  the 
other  business  places  put  together.  We  lunched  at 
an  unpretending  hotel  on  the  main  street,  which,  for 
coolness,  cleanliness  and  comfort,  with  its  pretty  inner 
court  full  of  roses  and  climbing  vines,  made  a  most 
refreshing  contrast  to  many  more  showy  houses.  It 
was  kept  by  a  Boston  man,  who  had  married  a  tidy 
Eastern  woman ;  indeed,  \ve  begin  to  doubt  whether 
there  are  any  real  westerners  at  all  in  this  cosmo- 
politan country.  Such  towns  as  this  are  doubly 
welcome,  after  the  sad,  bare  settlements  of  the  South- 
western States,  which  made  life  look  too  hard  to  be 
borne  by  the  average  man  or  woman.  The  people, 
like  all  we  have  met  in  California,  were  exceedingly 
-warm-heated,  eager  to  offer  any  little  kindness,  even 
when  we  stopped  only  to  ask  a  question.  The  dialect 
was  peculiar,,  a  little  of  Bret  Harte,  but  not  very  much 


ON    THE    WJNG.  183 

of  him,  mildly  suggesting  itself  everywhere.  They 
"  allowed  "  that  a  certain  man  "  lit  out "  from  a  certain 
place,  and  another  "fit"  a  fire  in  the  woods  all  night; 
and  their  slang  was  exceedingly  piquant.  But  we  did 
not  come  upon  any  chivalresque  gambler,  ready  to  kill 
a  man  and  take  off  his  hat  to  a  woman  at  the  same 
time,  so  that,  on  the  whole,  mining  must  have  degen- 
erated since  Harte's  time. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

IN    THE    CITY    OF    ZION. 

WE  were  most  agreeably  disappointed  in  the 
Nevada  desert  and  alkali  plains.  After 
the  unearthly  "desolation  of  the  south,  they 
wore  a  look  more  subdued  than  oppressive.  At  this 
time  of  the  year,  the  delicate  green  of  sage-brush, 
with  the  pale  gray  of  the  white  sage,  which  covers  so 
much  of  the  territory,  made  a  soft  mass  of  neutral 
tint  set  in  high  relief  by  the  dusky,  far-away  moun- 
tains, stretching  on  both  sides  across  the  entire 
country.  The  dazzling  white  of  alkali  fields  showed 
itself  here  and  there  like  hoar  frost.  Something  of 
the  delicious  breadth  and  freedom  which  is  found  by 
the  sea,  moves  one  here  also  in  the  immense  outlook 
which  stretches  away  to  the  horizon.  The  Humboldt 
River  played  hide-and-seek  through  the  valley  along 
almost  its  entire  length;  now  and  again  streaks  or 
rifts  of  snow  on  some  soaring  summit  gave  picturesque 
effect  to  the  entire  range  in  sight,  or  frowning  pali- 
sades straightly  set  in  narrow  gorges  shut  out  for  a 
little  while  the  rest  of  the  world.  Little  whirlwinds  of 
fine  dust  were  constantly  rising,  like  inverted  cones, 
and  after  keeping  up  a  few  moments  of  incessant 
whirling,  blowing  themselves  into  thin  mist  in  the 
bright  air.  There  was  great  grandeur  in  the  vastness 


l86  ON   THE   WING. 

and  monotony  of  the  scene,  but  nothing  haunting  or 
depressing,  as  in  the  ghostly  outlook  of  the  southern 
country ;  so  that  the  day  spent  in  crossing  the  desert, 
to  which  we  looked  forward  with  such  dread,  was 
really  anything  but  tiresome ;  and  the  night  before 
reaching  Utah,  whether  from  some  unexplained  excel- 
lence of  the  sleeping-berths,  or  some  unknown  influence 
of  the  beautiful  brilliant  atmosphere,  which  reminded 
us  so  much  of  Colorado,  was  the  very  best  and  most 
refreshing  we  had  passed  since  leaving  home.  The 
air,  like  that  of  Manitou,  seems  absolutely  to  scintil- 
late with  light  and  purity.  One  draws  long  breaths, 
and  inspires  exhilaration.  The  stories  of  returning 
miners,  which  have  heretofore  been  regarded  as  absurd 
western  exaggerations,  of  refuse  meat  and  offal  drying 
up,  instead  of  putrifying  or  tainting,  become  easy 
of  belief.  In  spite  of  its  barrenness,  its  lack  of  trees 
and  verdure,  its  surface  of  sand  and  rock,  its  dread- 
fully severe  winters  and  uncomfortable  summers,  the 
radiant  atmosphere  and  glowing  sky  go  far  to  com- 
pensate for  all  shortcomings.  When  we  woke,  next 
day,  at  early  morning,  and  saw  in  the  light  of  the 
dawning  Sabbath  the  deep-blue  of  the  great  Salt  Lake 
sweeping  toward  the  snowy  Wahsatch  mountains, 
while  the  great,  gray  plain  lay  asleep  in  the  shadow, 
and  the  mountain  tips  were  rosy  with  the  flush  of 
coming  dawn,  it  seemed  for  the  moment  like  the 
embodiment  of  rest  and  peace ;  yet,  travellers  who 
have  frequently  crossed  this  waste,  declare  that  at 
other  seasons  the  dreariness  and  dust  of  this  part 
of  the  route  are  intolerable.  Our  exceptional  good 


ON  THE  WING.  187 

fortune    brought   us    through   without    even  a   touch 
of  ennui. 

Perhaps  because  this  unlooked-for  pleasure  in  find- 
ing the  desert  attractive  had  made  us  expect  too  much, 
perhaps  because  unconsciously  the  blight  in  its  moral 
atmosphere  had  chilled  our  physical  perception,  we 
did  not  find  Salt  Lake  City  as  interesting  as  we  an- 
ticipated. This  was  the  more  strange  because  the 
valley  in  which  it  lies  is  so  exceedingly  beautiful, 
enclosed  within  a  framework  of  exquisitely  outlined 
hills,  with  the  deep,  shining  waters  of  the  great  lake 
on  one  side,  and  the  green,  smiling  fields  and  waving 
trees  of  a  fruitful  country  on  the  other  side.  It  is 
like  a  lovely  vision,  a  pastoral  idyl,  after  the  severe 
prose  of  the  plains,  which  stretch  beyond  its  moun- 
tain walls.  Full  of  vivid  color,  rich  in  the  promise  of 
spring-time,  eloquent  of  that  peace  and  content  which 
a  beautiful  landscape  always  breathes,  it  was  a  gracious 
sight,  and  unconsciously  prepared  one  to  be  pleased 
with  what  came  after.  The  small  houses  and  farms 
had  an  air  of  great  thrift  and  neatness,  the  herds  and 
stock  grazing  here  and  there  were  unusually  sleek  and 
comfortable.  In  the  city,  the  great  width  of  streets, 
and  their  long  lines  cf  locust  and  poplar-trees,  gave  a 
certain  stateliness  to  even  the  humblest  locality,  and 
the  people  as  well  as  the  children  looked  so  com- 
fortably cared-for  that  there  was  nothing  to  find  fault 
with  ;  but  there  was,  even  about  their  best  institutions, 
as  well  as  in  the  deportment  of  its  population,  such  a 
glaring  contempt  for  the  beauties  and  amenities  of 
life,  that  it  grated  on  one  after  the  first  glance  ;  the 


l88  ON   THE   WING. 

well-being   seemed  so  entirely  temporal,   and  so   far 
apart  from  any  corresponding  spiritual  perception. 

The  disdain  in  which  they  appear  to  hold  preten- 
tious dwellings  and  polite  manners,  was  not  the  fine 
feeling  of  those  who  know  the  greater  value  of  higher 
things,  but  the  grosser  instincts  of  carelessness  in 
those  who  have  never  yet  reached  even  the  best  ap- 
preciation of  lower  ones.  There  is  no  truth  in  a 
religion  which  tramples  the  purest  and  noblest  instincts 
of  womanhood  under  foot;  there  can  be  no  stability 
in  it.  It  is  too  dreadful  a  state  of  things  for  hope  to 
live  through,  or  wretchedness  to  endure;  and  in  spite 
of  my  best  desire  to  see  the  contrary,  the  faces  of  the 
men  and  women  about  showed  but  differing  repetitions 
of  the  same  unwholesome  story.  The  few  sensitive 
ones  looked  unhappy ;  the  many  coarser,  indifferent. 
In  all  the  sea  of  faces  at  service  in  the  immense 
tabernacle,  these  were  the  two  prevailing  types  ;  only 
a  few  were  free  from  it,  and  these  were  either  mothers 
holding  little  babies,  and  happy  in  the  care,  or  youths 
of  either  sex  too  young  to  understand  their  abnormal 
position.  Even  among  the  presiding  elders  there  was 
110  subtle  magnetism  of  devotion  or  refinement.  The 
poorest  meeting-house  of  a  New  England  village 
would  show  among  its  deacons  better  heads  and  more 
spiritual  countenances  than  this  stronghold  of  Mor- 
monism  could  summon  from  the  whole  range  of  its 
best  class,  to  represent  the  hierarchy  of  its  church. 
The  Latter-Day  Saints,  which  is  the  title  they  claim 
officially,  show  neither  in  face  nor  bearing  the  qualities 
which  we  usually  consider  as  belongings  of  those  who 


ON  THE  WING.  189 

live  in  the  odor  of  sanctity.  There  is  neither  calm 
patience,  sweet  benignity,  deep  thought,  soaring  aspira- 
tion, nor  loving  kindness,  to  be  found  in  the  looks 
of  these  typical  men.  In  their  place,  shrewdness, 
obstinacy,  and  a  complacent  arrogance,  strike  the  be- 
holder with  any  but  spiritual  reflections  —  qualities 
much  more  likely  to  be  canonized  by  the  Mammon  of 
Unrighteousness  than  the  God  of  humility  and  peace. 
The  thought  of  the  social  ulcer  which  preys  upon 
society,  embittered  every  practical  aspect  of  this 
country  to  us.  It,  and  it  alone,  made  the  clear  air 
dim,  the  bright  water  running  in  the  roadside  ditches 

'  O  O 

muddy,  the  pleasant  shadow  of  waving  trees  dark  and 
intolerable.  The  condition  of  things  which  allows  it 
to  be  possible  in  a  presumably  Christian  country,  to 
point  out  the  Amelia  Palace  as  the  residence  of  its 
ruler's  "favorite  wife,"  explains  its  own  weakness  and 
wickedness.  The  divine  mandate  which  raises  woman 
to  the  sublime  dignity  of  wife  and  mother  has  nothing 
in  common  with  such  degrading  comparisons. 

Many  of  the  clean,  neat  little  houses  (for  the  large, 
Gentile  fashion  of  taking  up  much  ground  for  dwelling- 
places  seemed  to  have  stopped  outside  the  valley,  and 
the  homes  were  all  small  and  tidy),  had  the  piazza 
divided  by  a  centre  railing;  and  one  wife  and  her 
children  sat  on  one  side,  while  the  other  little  group 
occupied  the  other.  Even  where  this  outward  sign  of 
division  was  emitted.,  we  learned  that  some  distinction 
of  place  was  made  between  the  different  members  of 
one  family  within  the  dwellings.  It  was  customary, 
or  not  unusual,  to  have  one  mistress  and  her  depend- 


190  ON   THE   WING. 

ents  in  the  city  house,  and  another  at  the  country 
ranche,  so  that  the  master  would  meet  some  part  of 
his  multiplied  wife  wherever  he  turned.  The  one- 
armed  driver  who  took  us  through  the  town  had  two 
wives  and  eighteen  children.  One  would  think  he 
would  need  both  arms  for  such  a  regiment ;  but  he 
seemed  quite  equal  to  the  situation,  and  said  with  a 
leer,  which  in  Christian  countries  would  not  be  con- 
sidered consistent  with  matrimony,  that  he  was  "about 
ready  for  number  three  now."  It  was  the  ugliest 
commentary  we  heard  on  "the  institution,"  and  by 
a  Mormon. 

It  looked  peaceful  and  proper  enough  ;  but  our  un- 
ruly imaginations  put  riot,  and  bitterness,  and  dreadful 
thoughts  enough  in  the  souls  behind  those  stolid, 
heavy  faces  to  make  a  moral  tornado.  We  tortured 
ourselves  more  during  those  two  or  three  days  in  this 
stronghold  of  the  Saints,  as  they  call  themselves,  with 
a  defiant  pride  which  looks  gigantic  by  the  side  of 
their  assumed  humility,  than  in  all  the  hairbreadth 
'scapes  and  positive  dangers  of  the  trip  put  together. 
It  was  so  impossible  to  connect  those  common- 
place looking  people  and  their  commonplace  ambitions 
and  works,  with  the  hell-upon-earth  which  the  reigning 
condition  of  things  would  create  in  our  own  bosoms, 
that  it  made  us  feel  as  if  we  were  trying  to  reap  the 
whirlwind.  No  doubt  we  did  grevious  injustice  to 
many  a  peaceful  Gentile,  by  imagining  him  one  of  the 
polygamous  band,  and  hating  him  accordingly,  while 
we  wasted  yearning  sympathy  over  this  or  that  good, 
honest  woman,  the  one  wife  of  her  one  husband, — for 


ON  THE  WING.  191 

Salt  Lake  City  is  no  longer  peopled  by  Mormons  alone. 
A  large  and  thriving  portion  of  the  population  live 
their  own  lives  and  follow  their  own  religion,  with- 
out fear  of  avenging  angel  or  thug-like  Danite.  Many 
of  the  prettiest  houses  in  the  best  situations  be- 
long now  to  this  colony,  and  the  number  increases 
day  by  day.  So  long,  however,  as  the  church  co- 
operative system  continues  to  exist,  I  cannot  see  that 
it  leaves  great  scope  for  large  business  transactions 
outside. 

As  far  as  material  prosperity  goes,  it  requires  very 
little  time  to  become  convinced  that  the  political 
economy  of  the  Saints  is  a  success.  Under  the  cloak 
of  religion,  the  church  follows  its  believers  to  the 
home,  to  the  store,  to  the  office,  and  retains  a  helping, 
as  well  as  a  grasping  hand,  in  every  affair  of  life.  As 
a  consequence,  there  is  none  of  the  squalor,  none  of 
the  uncared-for  distress,  which  is  so  harrowing  in 
other  cities.  Every  one  looks  well  fed  ;  every  one  is 
decently  clothed ;  there  is  even  a  feeling  of  relief  in 
escaping  suddenly  and  completely  from  the  velvet  and 
diamond  fever  which  seems  to  have  prostrated  every 
other  womankind  of  the  Western  country.  There  is 
an  honest  simplicity  which  allows  people  to  live  in 
accordance  with  primitive  rulings ;  they  are  not  brought 
up  against  some  rock  of  etiquette  or  conventionality 
at  every  turn  of  the  rudder.  There  is  a  wholesome 
disregard  of  gloves  and  fashions ;  the  cotton  and 
woolen  overskirts  of  six  years  ago,  and  even  further 
back,  sit  cheek-by-jowl  with  the  cotton  and  wool  over- 
skirts  of  the  latest  Harper's  Bazar.  Most  of  the 


192  ON  THE  WING. 

finery  worn  in  the  Tabernacle  was  as  evidently  of 
home  production  as  the  Tabernacle  itself,  and  no  man 
or  woman  seemed  to  feel  the  reproach  or  incongruity 
of  companionship  with  finer  feathers.  I  say  seemed; 
for,  in  spite  of  the  startlingly  self-complacent  and  bril- 
liantly ungrammatical  report  of  a  missionary  brother 
just  returned  from  preaching  the  "  new  gospel  of 
faith  "  to  the  heathens  of  West  Tennessee,  we  caught 
many  a  furtive  glance  at  the  exceedingly  modest 
toggery  of  our  own  party,  trying  to  detect  whether 
kilt-pleatings  or  box-plaits  were  most  in  favor  with  the 
wicked  world's  people,  or  if  we  tied  our  pullbacks- 
quite  as  tightly  as  in  eighteen  hundred  and  eighty-one. 
The  mothers,  sitting  here  and  there  through  the  con- 
gregation, bared  their  breasts  and  nursed  their  infants 
with  most  absolute  unconcern  of  neighborhood ;  the 
children,  scattered  broadcast  through  the  immense 
edifice,  clattered  through  the  aisles  as  if  they  were 
sidewalks,  dipped  tin  cups  of  water  from  the  open 
barrels  just  inside  the  Temple  doors,  laughed  a  little 
and  cried  a  good  deal,  after  the  manner  of  children 
cooped  up  in  a  place  of  worship  all  the  world  over. 
When  communion  time  came,  there  was  little  to 
remind  one  of  the  sanctity  of  a  religious  ceremony  in 
the  hastily  broken  bits  of  bread  passed  around  in 
plated  baskets,  and  eaten  with  as  much  unconcern  as 
a  peanut  by  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  the  entire 
edifice.  I  remember  being  very  much  impressed  once 
by  a  general  love-feast  of  this  kind  in  the  Cathedral  of 
Notre  Dame  at  Montreal;  but  there  was  not  an  atom 
of  reverence  or  devotion  about  the  rite  as  adminis- 


ON   THE   WING.  193 

tered  in  the  Mormon  Church.  The  people,  taken  as 
a  whole,  were  the  poorest  representative  body  I  ever 
saw  gathered ;  a  heavy  air  of  vulgar  satisfaction  in  the 
men  and  a  weary  unconcern,  in  spite  of  the  simple  life 
and  delightful  atmosphere,  in  the  women.  In  the 
Temple,  as  in  the  street,  one  of  the  usual  facts  in 
polygamy  was  further  verified.  The  man  of  the  house 
sat  or  walked  with  the  youngest  wife,  while  the  others 
took  post-graduate  places.  I  remember  one  evening 
walking  a  long  distance  behind  a  surly  man,  who  was 
beaming,  as  much  as  he  could  beam,  on  a  rather 
homely-dressed  woman,  while  he  threw  back  an  occa- 
sional command  to  "get  along,"  or  "hurry  up,"  to 
an  older  person  struggling  with  a  cross  three-year-old 
boy,  who  walked  submissively  behind.  They  listened 
in  the  church  to  the  religious  exercise  with  decorum, 
but  without  the  slightest  particle  of  interest  or  evi- 
dence of  interior  spirit.  It  looked  as  if  any  one  of 
them  might  say,  with  Tennyson's  North  Country 
Farmer  listening  to  his  preacher:  — 

"An  I  niver  knawed  whot  a  mean'd,  but  I  thowt  a  ad  summut  to  saay, 
An  I  thowt  a  said  whot  a  owt  to  'a  said  an  T  corned  awaay." 

The  classes  from  which,  in  the  main,  Mormonism 
receives  its  recruits,  would  partly  explain  this  lack  of 
animation  or  interest.  Probably,  no  set  of  people  in 
the  world  are  more  material,  or  on  a  lower  mental 
plane,  than  the  operatives  of  large  English  manufac- 
turing towns,  the  miners  of  Wales,  and  the  laborers 
in  small  German  farming  villages.  It  is  largely  to 
these  overburdened  lives,  in  which  "existence  resolves 
13 


194  ON  THE  WING. 

itself  into  a  constant  struggle  to  snatch  food  from  the 
jaws  of  want,  that  the  preachers  of  this  new  religion 
come  with  a  gospel  more  of  the  body  than  the  spirit ; 
with  promise  of  lighter  toil,  better  wages  and  in- 
creased comfort ;  with  the  vexed  question  of  polygamy 
left  adroitly  in  the  background  for  future  discussion, 
and  only  the  broad,  easy  tenets  of  doctrine  offered  for 
dull  brains  to  ponder  over.  Unless  report  is  more 
than  ever  a  liar,  a  majority  of  the  "  converts  "  to  this 
creed  become  aware  of  its  most  remarkable  dogma, 
after  they  are  within  the  limits  of  Utah.  Once  there, 
the  wise  laws  regarding  labor  and  expense,  the  system 
of  tithes,  the  patriarchal  government,  the  amplitude  of 
ease  which  comes  to  almost  every  individual,  half 
hampers  them  by  implied  obligations,  half  blinds  their 
naturally  obtuse  religious  sense,  and  makes  them 
ready  to  adopt  any  code  which  is  laid  down  for  their 
observance.  But  it  is  no  use  to  tell  any  woman,  that 
custom  or  prejudice,  or  even  the  uplifting  of  martyr- 
dom, can  make  the  sharing  of  her  home  rights  and 
her  heart's  longings,  peaceful,  or  happy,  or  healthful, 
for  any  other  woman  under  the  sun. 

In  spite  of  the  pamphlets  for  sale  in  the  lobby  of 
the  hotel,  which  gave  letter  after  letter  from  leading 
wives  and  mothers  of  the  kingdom,  proclaiming  their 
entire  satisfaction  with,  and  approbation  of,  the  pecu- 
liar tenets  of  their  chosen  religion,  and  the  peace  and 
harmony  in  which  they  live  with  the  three,  five,  or 
seven  other  consorts  of  their  beloved  husbands,  there 
is  a  strong  and  invincible  conviction  that  they  are 
speaking  for  a  purpose.  Their  faces  tell  a  truer  story. 


ON   THE    WING.  195 

The  well-to-do  aspect  of  the  city  is  enhanced  by  its 
beautiful  situation.  Every  house,  without  exception, 
has  its  bit  of  ground  laid  out  according  to  the  owner's 
taste,  so  that  instead  of  the  inevitable  tenement  blocks 
in  other  cities,  one  walks  here  through  streets  lined 
with  gardens  and  grateful  with  shade.  The  new 
buildings  going  up  for  religious  purposes  within  the 
enclosure  of  the  present  Tabernacle,  promise  to  be 
more  imposing  in  style  and  finish  than  anything  yet 
attempted  in  the  city.  Some  few  residences  of  the 
wealthier  Gentile  merchants,  or  the  more  prominent 
religious  officials,  are  sufficiently  elegant  to  be  notice- 
able here,  but  hardly  to  make  a  show  in  other  cities  of 
the  same  proportions.  The  private  houses  belonging 
of  old  to  Brigham  Young,  were  remarkable  for  nothing 
but  a  certain  aggressiveness  of  size,  and  had  more  the 
aspect  of  buildings  connected  with  a  community  than 
with  family  life.  We  were  a  little  amused  on  entering 
one  of  the  recitation-rooms  of  the  catechism-classes, 
to  hear  a  body  of  small  people  repeating  answers  and 
texts  in  concert  with  more  respect  for  the  sound  than 
the  sense  of  their  lessons.  They  were  reciting  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  as  we  came  in,  going  over  and 
over  again  in  unison  each  section,  until  it  was  learned 
by  rote.  That  it  was  by  rote,  a  lusty  youngster  just 
in  front  proved  to  his  own  satisfaction  and  ours  by 
shouting  out,  each  time,  "  Blessed  are  they  that 
mourn,  for  they  shall  be  comfortable ; "  while  the 
teacher,  unheeding,  allowed  him  to  shout  away.  It 
was  the  old  contest  between  the  letter  and  the  spirit. 

I  wonder  very  much,  that,  with  the  clear  streams 


196  ON   THE   WING. 

of  water  running  at  either  side  of  their  streets,  the 
people  do  not  utilize  part  of  it  to  moisten  the  intoler- 
able dust,  which  is  overpowering  at  certain  seasons. 
It  shows  a  want  of  foresight  not  in  keeping  with  such 
practical  tendencies.  Every  evening  in  summer  a 
train  runs  up  the  narrow-gauge  road  to  several 
watering-places  on  the  road,  and  both  Mormon  ancl 
Gentile  avail  themselves  of  the  privilege  of  bathing 
and  seeing  sunset  on  the  lake.  The  evening  we  were 
there  was  memorable  for  a  glory  of  color  that  made 
all  previous  memories  of  sunsets  dim.  Low  on  the 
horizon,  between  a  sapphire  sea  and  sapphire  sky,  a 
mass  of  gray  clouds  changed  in  a  few  instants  to 
flaming  islands  burning  on  an  amber  ocean;  the  ter- 
raced hills  on  the  right  changed  their  dull,  sage-green 
to  a  pale,  luminous  emerald ;  one  solitary  peak  just 
under  the  deeply-glowing  sky  wrapped  itself  from  base 
to  summit,  in  a  royal  robe  of  purple ;  while  across 
the  water,  toward  the  east,  the  snowy  points  of  the 
Wahsatch  Range  caught  a  rosy  flush  from  the  re- 
flected light  behind  them,  as  if  .the  spirit  of  morning, 
instead  of  evening,  was  spreading  radiant  pinions  over 
the  world.  There  was  the  utmost  incongruity  between 
this  superb,  yet  harmonious,  scene,  and  the  crowd  of 
noisy  bathers,  full  of  rough  fun,  who  bobbed,  and 
squirmed,  and  floated  like  corks  on  the  densely  salt 
water.  It  was  impossible  to  sink ;  one  could  sit  as  in 
an  arm-chair  on  the  calm  sea ;  there  was  no  danger  of 
being  drowned,  but  a  fair  certainty  of  being  pickled, 
so  we  wisely  refrained  from  buying  experience  at  such 
a  price. 


ON   THE  WING.  197 

The  hotels  of  the  city,  though  fairly  comfortable, 
do  not  show  the  same  care  for  the  accommodation  of 
guests  as  those  to  which  we  had  been  accustomed. 
One  who  was  not  there  at  the  exact  supper  hour,  had 
to  wait  the  convenience  of  cook  and  waiter  for  even  a 
cup  of  tea  and  a  boiled  egg.  Any  of  the  little  luxuries 
of  the  bill  of  fare  were  utterly  out  of  the  question 
for  late  comers.  We  left  in  the  early  morning,  so 
early  that  we  had  slops  for  tea,  cold  potatoes,  cold 
eggs,  and  cold  victuals  generally.  It  was  the  worst 
meal  we  had  on  the  trip,  and  the  poorest  service. 
Nothing  was  hot  but  our  tempers  :  they  were  boiling. 
If  their  object  was  "  to  speed  the  parting  guest,"  they 
succeeded  admirably;  we  would  not  have  waited  longer 
for  a  kingdom.  Besides,  our  faces  were  fairly  turned 
eastward ;  and  once  one  gets  on  the  home-stretch, 
after  a  long  and  changeful  journey  of  this  kind,  all  the 
blandishments  of  the  stranger  could  not  compensate 
for  any.  added  delay  that  would  keep  us  from  the  dear 
hands  already  stretched  in  welcome.  We  were  made 
glad,  too,  by  a  rain,  a  real,  fine,  down-pouring  rain, 
acknowledged  by  the  world,  and  welcomed  as  a  blessed 
thing.  For  so  long  we  had  had  no  rain  at  all,  or  else 
had  been  obliged  to  smuggle  it  in  under  so  many 
disguises,  such  as  mist  or  fog,  or  some  undefined 
quantity,  as  if  it  were  a  thing  to  be  ashamed  of, 
that  we  took  genuine  pride  in  the  dripping,  warm, 
delicious  moisture :  it  was  like  the  first  breath  of  home. 
The  beautiful  valley,  as  we  passed  through  it  again  on 
our  way  to  Ogden,  was  lovelier  than  ever.  It  seemed 
as  if,  leaving  the  city,  we  left  an  incubus  behind  which. 


198  ON  THE  WING. 

had  unconsciously  been  weighing  upon  us.  Between 
the  mountains  on  one  hand,  and  the  lake  on  the  other, 
each  instant  brought  a  new  point  of  loveliness  to  view; 
and  one  realized  that  here,  as  in  the  old  hymn  of  our 
childhood, 

"  Every  prospect  pleases, 
And  only  man  is  vile." 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

HOMEWARD-BOUND    ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

THE  fine  scenery  through  Weber  and  Echo 
canons  lost  something  of  its  effect  on  us  from 
the  anti-climax  of  seeing  it,  after  the  more 
magnificent  wildness  of  the  Colorado  gorges,  just  as 
the  Nevada  desert  seemed  tame  after  the  fierce  deso- 
lation of  the  Southern  saharas.  If  considerations  of 
climate  and  weather  made  it  possible — as  unfortu- 
nately they  do  not — to  reverse  the  order  of  travel,  and 
coming  first,  as  is  usual,  across  the  northern  route,  to 
finish  sight-seeing  with  the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande 
Railway,  the  natural  progression  of  wonders  would  be 
better  retained.  A  succession  of  the  most  admirable 
points  of  view  are  crowded  on  this  small  line,  which, 
in  connection  with  the  Atchison,  Topeka  and  Santa 
Fe,  crosses  and  recrosses  with  a  network  of  tracks 
the  whole  Southwestern  country.  It  was  a  little  odd 
to  find  ourselves  in  the  native  haunts  of  this  latter 
road,  which  had  been  familiar  to  most  of  us  before  as 
the  irrepressible  acrobat  of  the  stock-board,  with  a 
mania  for  bounding  and  tumbling,  and  find  that  it  had  a 
local  habitation  as  well  as  a  name.  May  its  dividends 
never  be  less,  for  the  sake  of  the  sincere  pleasure  it 
gave  us  ! 

There   is   no  portion   of  Western   travel,   however, 


200  ON   THE   WING. 

which  does  not  possess  its  own  special  charm  to  one 
who  knows  how  to  look  for  it.  We  had  heard  the 
great  plains  of  Wyoming  spoken  of  as  decidedly  un- 
interesting, but  we  found  them  quite  the  reverse. 
There  is  great  impressiveness  about  these  immense 
level  reaches,  covered  with  roving  flocks  and  herds, 
narrowed  here  and  there  by  lowering  buttes  of  bright, 
red  rock,  or  high-piled  basaltic  columns,  but,  for  the 
most  part,  vast,  silent,  and  solitary.  Through  all 
these  uninhabited  plains,  both  north  and  south,  full  of 
the  strange  majesty  of  desolation,  the  harmonies  of 
David's  symphonic  poem,  "  The  Desert,"  which  the 
Boylston  Club  had  given  just  before  we  left  home, 
rang  in  my  ears  like  a  solemn  invocation.  The  per- 
sistence of  the  low  C,  which  underlies  the  entire  first 
movement,  and  gives  such  solemnity  to  the  composi- 
tion, seemed  particularly  appropriate  to  express  the 
magnitude  and  isolation  of  these  stupendous  mono- 
tones. We  rode  in  front  of  the  engine  thirty  or  forty 
miles  one  day,  through  the  brilliant  atmosphere,  which, 
probably,  belongs  t<* every  region  of  plateaux  elevated 
so  high  above  sea  level,  until  the  swiftness  of  motion 
and  heavenly  air  produced  an  exhilaration  never  to  be 
forgotten.  Life  may  hold  more  inspiring  moments,  but 
we  are  content  for  the  present  to  rest  here;  although  a 
precarious  seat  on  a  cow-catcher  seems  to  have  as 
little  moral  connection  with  inspiration  as  it  would 
be  possible  to  bring  about.  But  mind  does  not  any 
longer  depend  on  matter.  It  was  only  in  old  days  that 
the  muse  required  to  pose  on  a  pedestal ;  now  she  sits 
in  any  easy-chair  and  uses  a  type-writer. 


ON  THE  WING.  2OI 

We  were  surprised  at  the  invariably  good  meals 
which  followed  us  through  this  route  at  such  distances 
from  any  depot  of  supplies ;  and  wherever,  at  any  of 
the  small  stations  along  the  line,  an  attempt  had  been 
made  at  irrigation,  either  by  ditches  bringing  streams 
from  the  far-away  mountains,  or  by  means  of  wells, 
the  lavish  abundance  of  vegetation  in  flowers,  trees 
and  produce  made  the  world  beautiful  for  a  little 
space,  showing  that  both  soil  and  climate  were  there, 
if  only  patience  and  prudence,  like  the  rod  of  Moses, 
tapped  and  bade  the  living  waters  leap  forth. 

Fine  specimens  of  quartz  crystals,  petrified  wood 
and  moss  agates,  were  for  sale  at  the  wayside  inns. 
At  Green  River,  along  with  these,  were  a  few  wild 
awimals,  caged  and  lonesome,  showing  their  dislike  of 
being  mewed- up  in  their  rough  dens,  just  as  well  as  if 
they  were  part  of  Barnum's  menagerie.  It  looked 
doubly  unkind  to  see  them  captive  in  the  very  heart  of 
this  primitive  nature,  which  was  mother  and  nurse 
of  all  wild  things.  If  it  is  a  measure  of  safety  to 
capture  coyote  and  grizzly,  well  and  good ;  but  kill 
them  kindly  at  once,  and  never  let  them  beat  their 
lives  out  in  dull,  brutish  rage  against  the  bars.  It 
was  at  this  same  station  that  a  very  good  specimen  of 
Western  humor,  coarse  but  trenchant,  was  handed 
about  in  the  shape  of  a  set  of  rules  and  regulations 
belonging  to  the  two-story  wooden  hotel  at  which  we 
took  supper.  Quotations  from  it  had  been  posted 
here  and  there  in  the  offices  of  public-houses,  even  in 
the  Valley ;  but  this  was  the  first  time  the  entire 
document  was  forced  on  our  attention.  The  office- 


2O2  ON   THE   WING. 

clerk  is  described  in  the  bill  as  one  who  "has  been 
carefully  selected  to  please  everybody;  can  play  draw- 
poker,  match  worsted  at  the  village  store,  shake  for 
drinks  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night,  play  billiards, 
waltz,  dance  the  German,  make  a  fourth  at  euchre, 
flirt  with  any  young  lady  and  not  mind  being  cut  dead 
"  when  pa  comes  down,"  put  forty  people  in  the  best 
room  of  the  house  when  the  hotel  is  full,  attend  to  the 
enunciator,  and  answer  questions  in  Greek,  Choctaw, 
Irish,  or  any  other  polite  language  at  the  same  mo- 
ment, without  turning  a  hair."  The  evident  enjoyment 
with  which  this  combination  of  Mercury  and  Gany- 
mede distributed  his  caustic  parody  among  our  people 
gave  us  a  feeling  that  the  sarcasm  was  meant  to  be 
personal.  Can  it  be  possible  that  there  are  ever 
persons  from  the  East  who  make  ridiculous  demands 
of  Western  innkeepers  ?  I  really  wonder  ! 

The  forty  or  fifty  miles  of  snow-sheds  through  which 
the  railroad  passes  during  the  first  part  of  the  home- 
ward journey,  are  another  novelty.  Such  constant, 
unpremeditated  plunges  into  obscurity,  without  rhyme 
or  reason  to  give  warning  of  their  approach,  would- 
addle  the  brain  of  most  people,  but  we  are  all  so  clear- 
headed !  Trains  of  emigrant  wagons  pass  many  times 
a  day,  each  with  its  troop  of  led  horses,  its  populous 
colony  of  little  children,  and  escort  of  sunburned, 
bearded  men,  looking  with  patient  eyes  to  the  still 
farther  west  toward  which  they  journey.  I  did  not 
realize  before  that  so  many  settlers  move  themselves 
and  their  belongings  in  this  way,  at  this  late  date.  It 
looked  pleasant  and  comfortable  enough  in  the  clear, 


ON   THE   WING.  2OJ 

bright  weather;  but  how  the  women  and  children 
must  suffer  in  the  wild  storms  which  sometimes  devas- 
tate this  region  !  Flocks  of  antelopes  were  almost 
constantly  in  sight,  bounding  over  the  plains,  not  so 
graceful  or  pretty  a  creature  as  the  tall,  antlered  deer 
we  passed  in  going  and  coming  from  the  Yo  Semite, 
but  still  pleasant  objects  to  look  at. 

It  was  somewhere  here,  on  the  way  to  Cheyenner 
that  we  took  on  board  an  Indian  scout,  one  of  those 
who  guided  the  government  forces  at  the  time  of  the 
Meeker  excitement.  We  braved  the  lurid  atmosphere 
of  the  smoking-car  for  a  couple  of  hours  one  evening, 
in  order  to  listen  to  the  viva  voce  stories  of  this  un- 
tutored hero.  I  am  bound  to  confess  that  the  real 
Indian  scout  is  a  very  poor  grub,  when  compared  with 
the  fine  butterfly  who  takes  his  name  sometimes  in  city 
shows.  Your  natural  article  is  a  plain,  inoffensive- 
looking  man  enough,  exhaling  a  strong  flavor  of  to- 
bacco, reticent  of  speech,  a  little  awkward  of  manner, 
and  dressed  in  the  ready-made,  ill-fitting  suit  of  the 
poor  man  in  all  climates.  There  is  very  little  fire  in 
his  eyes  or  voice;  his  hair  is  short,  his  beard  un- 
shaven, his  gestures  awkward,  as  if  he  needed  the 
excitement  of  activity  to  make  him  self-forgetful.  He 
gives  you  his  plain,  horrible  facts  in  the  simplest 
language,  which  is  still  more  graphic  than  the  stage 
eloquence  of  his  rival;  he  does  not  call  the  Indians 
names ;  he  hates  them  too  much  to  waste  words  on 
them ;  he  acknowledges  they  have  been  ill-treated,  but 
agrees  with  every  other  Westerner  that  "they  got  to 
be  stamped  out."  He  is  as  unassuming  and  neutral- 


204  ON   THE   WING. 

tinted  as  any  day -laborer,  with  not  even  a  stray  gleam 
of  the  eye  to  tell  you  that  over  and  over  again  he  has 
looked  into  the  face  of  almost  certain  death,  and  never 
left  the  shadow  blanch  his  own.  We  were  disap- 
pointed at  first,  as  any  women  of  taste  would  be, 
remembering  the  splendid  chevelure  and  flowing  mous- 
tache of  Buffalo  Bill  and  Texas  Jack,  the  defiant 
swagger  of  the  fine  animals,  their  broad-sashed  waists 
and  fringed  leggings,  their  wide  Gainsboro'  sombreros 
and  brilliancy  of  blanket  and  daring.  The  memory  of 
those  stately  heroes,  riding  arms  akimbo,  and  eyes  in 
a  fine  frenzy  rolling,  up  and  down  the  city  streets,  at 
the  head  of  their  war-painted  braves,  was  still  fresh  in 
our  mind,  and  put  the  modest  nearer  view  out  of 
focus.  To  see  one  such  creature  as  that  was  balm 
.to  the  spirit ;  you  felt  that  "  One  blast  upon  his  bugle- 
horn  was  worth  ten  thousand  men,"  and  that,  somehow 
or  other,  the  small,  quiet,  modest  fellow  before  you 
had  cheated  you  of  something ;  but,  like  a  woman  of 
taste,  also,  you  changed  your  mind  before  you  had 
talked  an  hour,  and  believed  that  if  there  was  any 
cheating  it  was  on  the  other  side  of  the  house. 

We  could  hardly  be  sufficiently  grateful  for  the 
weather  which  followed  us,  making  every  day  a  new 
benison.  At  the  dinner-station  they  told  us  of  a  hail- 
storm a  week  ago,  which  broke  every  window  on  one 
side  of  the  train,  and  at  Cheyenne  we  found  that  a 
rain-spout  yesterday  — which  is  the  same  storm  as 
the  "cloud-burst"  of  Nevada  —  nearly  devastated  the 
country.  Between  and  among  perils  of  many  kinds 
our  large  party  skim  or  glide  with  only  the  best  of 


ON   THE   WING.  205 

good  fortunes,  and  day  after  day  gives  us  a  new  reason 
to  be  thankful. 

One  could  almost  tell  when  the  boundary  lines  are 
passed  by  the  great  change  in  the  outlook  in  different 
territories.  Gray  sage-brush  in  narrow  valleys  or 
wide  plains  in  Nevada,  the  mountains  far  away  and 
dark,  with  the  same  dusty  look  as  in  New  Mexico,  but 
sometimes  closing  suddenly  in  abrupt  palisades,  like 
those  of  the  Hudson  river,  only  of  more  decided 
basaltic  formation.  In  Utah,  the  ranges  drawn  to- 
gether in  narrow  canons  of  great  beauty;  in  Wyoming, 
the  vast  extent  of  high  table  lands,  seven  or  eight 
thousand  feet  above  sea  level,  a  natural  grazing  ground 
for  numberless  cattle.  What  subtle  madness  causes 
a  stampede  among  these  creatures  and  forces  them 
to  cross  the  track  before  an  advancing  train,  nobody 
knows.  But  the  whistle  shrills  constantly  to  warn 
them,  and  then  the  engine  slows  to  avoid  running  over 
the  stupid  creatures,  who  won't  be  warned.  I  am 
disgusted  with  cows.  Their  methods  are  too  feminine, 
especially  when  it  comes  to  crossings.  Have  not  I 
seen  the  same  unaccountable  hesitancy,  the  same  spas- 
modic jerkiness  of  approach  and  retreat,  and  finally, 
the  same  wild  rush  in  the  very  jaws  of  destruction  in 
the  civilized  streets  of  my  native  city?  Alas !  have  I 
not  done  it  myself?  And  how  hard  it  is  to  see  one  of 
the  pet  weaknesses  of  your  sex  emphasized  by  a  four- 
footed  bungler  of  the  .same  persuasion.  The  moun- 
tains seem  to  grow  lower  as  we  reach  our  highest 
grade,  and  shortly  after  passing  Sherman  they  dis- 
appear entirely,  as  the  road  goes  down  the  opposite 


206  ON   THE   WING. 

slope  of  the  Rockies  toward  the  beautiful  grain  fields 
of  Nebraska.  These  are  like  Kansas,  without  the 
hedges  which  made  such  'noticeably  lovely  divisions, 
without,  also,  the  large,  comfortable  farm-houses  which 
have  been  replaced  in  all  our  journeyings  since  by  the 
poor,  bare  shanties  of  new  settlements.  The  appear- 
ance of  a  desperately  barren  social  life  which  these 
little  settlements  present  is  depressing  even  in  the 
midst  of  the  beautiful  world  surrounding  them.  There 
was  some  kind  of  harmony  between  their  blankness 
and  the  desert  places  in  which  they  were  set  in  other 
localities,  but  here  the  bleak,  harsh  look  forces  itself 
to  the  front.  There  is  also  a  noticeable  lack  of 
wild  flowers,  after  the  lavish  beauty  of  the  south  in 
this  respect. 

The  situation  of  Omaha  and  Council  Bluffs,  twin 
cities  on  opposite  sides  of  the  Missouri,  is  delight- 
ful. Broad,  green  meadows,  surpassingly  fresh  and 
brilliant,  stretch  up  to  bold  cliffs  on  one  side  and  tree- 
crowned  hills  on  the  other.  Nestling  in  the  rich  foliage 
which  lovingly  overshadow  them,  the  pretty,  pros- 
perous homes  of  the  young  towns  put  on  an  attractive- 
ness Western  homes  too  often  want.  Nothing  can 
be  more  meagre  and  cheerless  than  these,  as  a  rule. 
One  can  easily  believe  their  occupants  comfortable, 
but  not  so  easily  happy.  The  aspect  of  content  or 
cheerfulness  which  flowers  and  shade  add  to  the  house 
they  surround  is  almost  entirely  absent.  It  would  be 
an  insult  to  the  perceptions  of  the  Western  people  to 
doubt  that  the  fault  will  be  remedied,  when  means 
of  irrigation  become  more  easily  available.  Here  at 


ON   THE    WING.  2C/ 

Omaha,  as  indeed  largely  through  the  whole  of  Ne- 
braska, nature  has  done  everything  for  her  children. 
The  luxuriant  trees  could  not  be  more  beautfful  amid 
the  palaces  of  kings  than  around  these  homes  of  the 
people.  The  great,  muddy,  whirling  river,  which 
divides  the  cities,  with  its  uprooted  snags,  and  broken 
trees  sticking  in  its  shallows,  hardly  impresses  one  as 
being  capable  of  such  magnificent  outbursts  of  rage, 
as  sometimes  seize  it  at  earlier  and  later  seasons  ;  and 
it  is  with  real  incredulity  we  hear  of  last  year's  up- 
rising, when  it  filled  a  space  four  miles  wide  with 
rushing  waters.  Like  Thomas  of  old,  it  requires  that 
we  should  be  shown  the  places  where  the  wounds 
were  before  we  believed  ;  then  we  understood,  as  never 
before,  what  spring  floods  must  mean  to  the  inhabi- 
tants of  river  countries. 

Iowa  is  a  relief;  still  more  beautiful  than  Kansas, 
more  undulation,  more  trees,  more  exquisite  cultiva- 
tion ;  frequent  towns,  and  between  them,  for  days, 
hardly  an  inch  of  unreclaimed  land;  the  cottages 
improving  in  the  look  of  thrift  and  industry,  and  an 
ease  of  surrounding  which  speaks  of  a  life  less  harshly 
devoted  to  the  hard  grind  of  labor. 

Rock  Island  is  another  lovely  spot,  as  it  rises  like 
an  emerald  set  in  moonstones  from  the  gray  shining 
of  the  Mississippi,  which  sweeps  grandly  by  just  at 
this  point.  Illinois  does  not  entirely  carry  out  the 
promise  of  Iowa  in  cultivation ;  the  farms  toward  the 
east,  though  broad  and  green,  show  less  evidence  of 
care.  But  clover  fields  begin  to  appear,  the  dear, 
homely  red  blossoms  which  we  have  not  seen  before 


208  ON  THE   WING. 

this  year,  except  for  one  tiny  patch  in  Salt  Lake 
Valley.  How  honest  and  good  it  looks  !  Towns  and 
villages  come  thick  and  fast  now,  and  here  and  there 
broad  fields,  with  furrows  miles  long,  stretching  away 
like  the  strings  of  some  enormous  harp.  The  cattle 
stand  knee-deep  in  shining  pools,  and  little  rivers 
begin  to  cross  the  track.  The  color  of  the  green 
through  this  entire  state  is  superb;  it  is  at  once  deli- 
cate and  brilliant  to  a  degree  we  never  knew  before. 

Indiana,  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  each  runs  up  the  gamut 
of  delightsomeness,  as  we  speed  through  it  with  the 
dear  refrain  of  "  Home,  home  !  "  beating  time  to  every 
turn  of  the  wheels  bearing  us  on.  The  water,  which 
has  been  so  terribly  off  color,  clears  itself  from  even  a 
taint  of  suspicion;  the  beloved,  familiar  wild  flowers, 
buttercup  and  daisy,  wild  rose  and  convolvulus, 
chickory  and  yarrow,  creep  into  fields  and  hedges. 
We  forgive  even  the  ugly  Virginia  rail-fence  where  it 
wobbles  across  lots,  and  the  immense  distance  be- 
hind us  so  foreshortens  the  bit  of  travel  yet  to  come, 
that  when  we  change  cars  at  Buffalo  to  run  up  to 
Niagara  Falls  for  a  short  time,  it  seems  like  an  after- 
noon frolic,  and  that  we  will  be  at  home  for  tea. 
After  nine  thousand  miles,  who  is  going  to  count  two 
or  three  hundred  ?  Yet  I  have  known  the  day  when  a 
trip  to  New  York  looked  of  such  magnitude,  that  it 
took  my  mind  a  fortnight  to  prepare  to  grasp  it,  and 
no  doubt  the  same  time  will  come  again ;  for,  as  the 
deacon  said  to  Widow  Beclott,  "we  are  all  sech  poor 
critters  ! " 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

A   GLIMPSE   AT    NIAGARA. 

IT  is  always  experimental  to  test  a  youthful  mem- 
ory, by  bringing  it  face  to  face  with  the  same 
scene  twenty  years  after.  The  sorcery  of  time 
is  no  black  art :  it  softens  harsh  experiences  and 
brightens  dull;  it  throws  more  light  upon  sunny  spots, 
and  deepens  obscurity  over  dark  ones,  until  at  last 
they  fade  from  sight  altogether,  and  only  happiness  is 
left  in  bold  relief.  It  was  this  consciousness  that 
threw  a  chill  over  the  thought  of  seeing  Niagara 
again;  Niagara,  the  one  glowing  picture  of  the  outer 
world,  which  had  crossed  the  horizon  of  a  young  girl's 
home-life  to  remain  for  nearly  a  score  of  years  its 
highest  ideal  of  beauty  and  grandeur.  It.  is  hard  to 
have  an  old  love  made  light  of,  even  to  increase  the 
glory  of  a  new;  if  the  surpassing  wonderments  of  the 
last  two  months  should  overshadow  this,  and  make  it 
hereafter  take  only  a  second  place,  how  would  my 
steadfast  mind  ever  accustom  itself  to  the  change  ? 

This  was  the  dread  which  exercised  me  during  the 
short  ride  from  Buffalo  to  Suspension  Bridge  ;  this 
was  the  dread  which  floated  away  with  the  first  glance 
at  the  rushing  river;  for  is  not  "a  thing  of  beauty  a 
joy  forever?"  Was  there  not  the  old  enthusiasm, 
the  old  delight,  waiting  to  snare  us  in  whirling  rapids. 


210  ON  THE  WING. 

in  majestic  fall,  in  the  wild  commotion  of  whirlpools 
below  ?  Was  there  not  the  same  wonderful  green, 
like  no  other  bit  of  color  in  the  wide  world,  in  the 
curve  of  the  horse-shoe ;  the  same  sublimely  direct 
force  in  the  straight  plunge  of  the  American  side  ? 
The  little  quaking  tower  was  gone  from  its  perilous 
position  on  the  upper  edge  of  the  cataract;  but  the 
deeply-fretted  tumult  of  waters  about  the  Three  Sis- 
ters and  the  lovely  shores  of  Goat  Island,  was  still 
the  same.  Surging  mountains  of  spray,  rising  like  a 
soul  after  resurrection  from  the  abyssmal  leap  of  the 
river;  symphonies  of  sound  and  color  in  the  deep 
thunder  of  its  roar,  the  changing  emerald  of  its  waters  ; 
there  they  were,  all  and  more  than  all  my  fancy  painted 
them.  Aye,  even  to  make  the  illusion  perfect  and 
cause  my  sober  pulses  to  beat  with  the  fervid  rage  of 
twenty  years  syne,  was  there  not  the  same  irrepressible 
hackman,  bullying  of  manner,  monstrous  of  charge,  a 
Shylock  as  of  old  in  search  of  shekels,  and  ready  as 
ever  for  his  pound  of  flesh?  Even  the  aegis  spread 
about  us  by  Raymond's  coupons,  which  had  carried 
us  victoriously  through  the  battle-fields  of  monop- 
olists in  so  many  campaigns,  was  useless  here.  One 
man  bullied  us  first  and  abused  us  afterward  ;  but  I 
am  proud  to  record  that  we  were  proof  against  both, 
and  that  he  did  n't  make  enough  out  of  us  to  buy  salt 
for  his  porridge  —  if  the  wretch  ever  eats  any. 

The  policy  of  building  another  suspension  bridge 
near  the  falls,  at  the  same  great  height  as  the  old  one, 
and  making  it  wide  enough  for  only  one  carriage  at  a 
time  to  pass,  so  that  the  line  desiring  to  go  must  wait 


ON   THE   WING.  211 

for  the  opposing  line  to  come  across,  at  the  expense 
of  much  time  and  temper,  seemed  very  strange  to  us. 
Possibly,  like  most  international  policies,  it  was  neces- 
sarily conservative,  and  conservatism  is  always  narrow. 
American  enterprise  at  both  ends  of  the  line  would 
never  have  tolerated  such  halting  movement.  Ameri- 
can enterprise  would  have  done  well  to  curb  its  vault- 
ing spirit,  however,  before  it  builded  those  warehouses 
and  used  the  falls  for  water-power,  to  help  its  worship 
of  the  almighty  dollar.  We  could  easily  have  borne 
a  little  more  conservatism  there.  One  can  understand 
the  action  of  Ruskin  and  his  followers  in  petitioning 
Parliament  to  refuse  a  charter  for  railroads  through 
the  English  lake  region,  when  brought  face  to  face 
with  the  sacrilege  here.  For  there  are  certain  spots 
that,  by  reason  of  reverent  association  or  divine  right 
of  majestic  beauty,  should  be  set  apart  forever  from 
the  insolence  of  commonplace  association.  But  there 
will  always  be  a  class  ready  to  oppose  this  feeling 
as  sentimental  —  to  put  a  lager  beer  saloon  in  Shaks- 
peare's  house,  a  toll-gate  and  turnpike  on  the  way  to 
Mont  Blanc,  and  a  concert  hall  in  the  vestibule  of 
Saint  Peter's,  by  way  of  working  pecuniary  profit 
from  the  hold  these  places  possess  over  the  imagina- 
tion of  susceptible  people. 

It  is  easier  to  go  sight-seeing  now  at  Niagara  than 
it  used  to  be.  Queer  double-barrelled  inclined  planes, 
which  shoot  cars  up  and  down  from  the  river  bed, 
take  the  place  of  the  old  steep  scramble  over  the  pre- 
cipitous walls  of  the  bank.  It  did  not  seem  quite 
such  fun  as  the  other,  but  it  left  you  with  more  breath 


212  ON   THE   WING. 

and  less  flurry  to  revel  in  that  glorious  fury  of  waters 
which  lashes  itself  into  foam  and  passion  within  its 
pent-up  channel.  There  was  greater  fascination  in 
watching  this  wonderful  tangle  of  malachite,  where 
green  ran  through  all  the  shades  from  white  to  black, 
than  in  looking  at  the  calmer  grandeur  of  the  majestic 
falls  themselves  farther  up.  There  was  something 
more  in  accord  with  the  petulance  of  human  passion 
about  one,  while  the  terrible  calmness  of  Divine  rage 
sobered  the  other.  We  had  a  matchless  day  in  which 
to  see  this  other  wonder  of  the  world  —  a  sky  and 
atmosphere  that  might  have  been  taken  from  Colorado 
for  depth  and  purity.  It  appeared  to  me  still  that  the 
Clifton  House,  on  the  Canadian  side,  had  much  the 
advantage  in  situation,  and  an  appearance  of  retire- 
ment more  in  harmony  with  the  awful  beauty  of  the 
scene  before  it.  If  one  could  have  a  little  more  time 
for  that  deliberation  and  rest,  which  ought  to  be  part 
of  the  delight  in  any  such  place  as  this,  it  would  cer- 
tainly be  here  that  one  would  choose  to  spend  it.  The 
world  ought  not  to  push  too  near  the  gates  of  any- 
such  paradise.  This  is  what  makes  the  bustle  of  the 
little  American  town  distasteful,  with  its  petty  traffic, 
its  hurry,  its  busy  streets  and  modern  houses.  There 
is  something  sacrilegious  in  going  out  of  the  back 
door  and  into  the  byways,  as  it  were,  to  look  at  what 
is  really  the  life-spring  of  the  place.  On  the  British 
side  you  are  brought  first,  and  as  a  matter  of  course, 
face  to  face  with  its  chiefest  glory.  But  in  the  Ameri- 
can quarter  it  is  on  the  piazza  which  fronts  the  village 
street  that  the  guests  sit  to  watch  omnibuses  from. 


ON  THE  WING.  213 

incoming  trains,  to  ogle  village  beauties,  to  note  the 
modest  business  going  on  in  village  stores.  There  is 
nothing  to  tell  that  you  are  within  a  thousand  miles 
of  the  great  cataract,  the  echo  of  whose  name  fills 
the  world.  One  cannot  but  feel  that  the  isolation 
of  the  Yosemite  ought  to  be  here  also,  the  reverent 
approach  which  prepares  the  soul  to  he  in  tune  with 
-  its  surroundings.  Pilgrim  schoon  and  scallop  shell, 
which  were  signs  of  old  of  the  true  believer  on  his 
way  to  the  shrine  of  his  devotion,  have  given  way 
now  to  express  trains  and  fast  boats  advertised  to 
make  the  through  trip  in  a  certain  number  of  hours. 
We  must  make  our  pilgrimages  in  a  hurry,  or  we 
can  't  make  them  at  all.  I  am  not  sure,  however,  that 
we  do  not  lose  something  of  more  value  than  even  time 
and  money  in  the  bustle.  To  rush  as  fast  as  steam 
will  carry  you  into  the  heart  of  the  stronghold,  to 
rattle  up  to  the  front  door  of  the  International  and 
out  of  the  back  door,  with  only  the  narrow  limit  of 
Goat  Island  as  a  gateway,  before  you  are  precipitated 
into  the  holy  of  holies,  this  is  not  in  keeping  with 
eternal  fitness.  I  am  beginning  to  think  they  do 
things  better  in  the  West,  where  you  must  pay  for 
your  whistle  —  and  how  much  paying  has  to  do  with 
appreciation!  But  it  must  be  that  constant  motion 
has  clouded  a  usually  clear  head  ;  after  the  agony  we 
suffered  getting  into  that  Valley  of  Paradise  in  Cali- 
fornia, am  I  actually  grumbling  at  reaching  Heaven 
too  easily  here  ?  And  growling  over  vulgar  traffic  and 
village  stores,  when  we  bought  thereby  spar  ornaments 


214  ON   THE   WING. 

and  Indian  bead  work,  to  add  to  Santa  Fd  filigree 
and  Pueblo  pottery  in  the  already  over-full  trunks  ? 
Surely,  "  Frailty,  thy  name  is  woman." 

Sunset  on  Lake  Erie  was  another  picture  of  glowing 
beauty  to  hang  on  the  walls  of  memory ;  the  ruddy 
glow  of  the  western  sky  and  the  path  of  flame  it  made 
across  the  water  would  have  delighted  the  soul  of 
Turner,  but  no  other  man  would  ever  have  dared 
handle  it.  A  cloud  of  myriads  of  gnats  or  midges, 
which  followed  us  from  Suspension  Bridge  back  to 
Buffalo,  somewhat  obscured  its  radiance  at  the  time. 
How  large  a  pleasure  the  sting  of  an  atom  of  volatile 
mischief  such  as  this  can  spoil  for  one  ! 

We  woke  the  next  morning  —  the  last  morning  — 
near  Albany,  in  a  scene  of  such  exquisite  pastoral 
loveliness  as  one  can  only  get  by  the  Hudson  on  a 
June  morning.  The  low,  rounded  hills  were  covered 
with  trees  and  verdure ;  the  meadows  were  fresh 
as  an  English  lawn  ;  the  beautiful  bright  water  of 
the  brooks  and  creeks  sparkling  and  flashing  in  the 
sunshine,  made  the  memory  of  the  muddy  Western 
streams  like  a  bad  nightmare.  What  ease  and  com- 
fort about  the  pretty  houses  ;  what  home-like  thrift 
about  the  small  farms  ;  what  nestling  peace  surround- 
ing the  church-crowned  villages.  Ah !  let  them  say 
what  they  will  about  the  newer  world  toward  the 
setting  sun  !  There  is  more  room  there,  and  chance 
for  prosperity,  more  material  for  brawn  and  muscle, 
more  money-making  and  hoarding  up  of  riches,  broader 
lands  and  softer  climates  ;  but  here,  here  in  New  York 


ON   THE   WING. 


2I5 


and  Massachusetts,  is  the  place,  after  all,  for  the  white 
man  to  live  in.  "  For  is  the  life  not  more  than  food, 
and  the  body  more  than  raiment." 

What  matters  the  smaller  purse,  if  the  happier  spirit 
goes  with  it?  And,  in  all  honesty,  I  must  declare, 
that,  except  for  the  very  poor,  whom  life  pinches  in 
these  crowded  eastern  settlements,  life  is  an  easier 
problem  here  than  amid  the  bare,  laborious  experi- 
ences of  the  farther  country.  Toil  is  too  solely  the 
arbiter  of  destiny  there  ;  help  of  congenial  companion- 
ship, little  aids  to  educating  the  mind  and  elevating 
the  spirit,  the  thousand  nameless  and  unnoted  charms 
which  an  older  civilization  spreads  so  lavishly  about 
us,  that  we  only  heed  when  we  are  deprived  of  them, 
even  the  small  conveniences  which  have  become  so 
much  a  matter  of  course  with  us,  that  we  take  them  as 
we  do  the  free  air  of  heaven,  without  recognition  or 
gratitude ;  all  these  are  things  to  be  dreamed  of  and 
longed  for,  but  not  possessed. 

I  fancy  that  life  in  those  Western  wilds  must  press 
more  hardly  on  the  woman  than  the  man.  It  is  always 
so  where  the  rudeness  of  nature  still  holds  the  upper 
hand.  A  man's  mind  is  taken  up  with  many  projects ; 
he  is  out  in  the  free  air  under  the  beautiful  sky;  the 
rougher  experience  which  comes  to  him  rouses  a 
manly  strength  of  antagonism  which  is  part  of  every 
honest  character;  there  are  novel  and  exciting  hap- 
penings every  day ;  but  a  woman's  horizon  is  usually 
bounded  by  her  immediate  surroundings,  and  where 
there  is  little  to  enlarge  or  enliven  this,  she  is  apt  to 


2l6  ON   THE    WING. 

sink  into  that  condition  of  apathetic  dejection  which 
marks  the  bondage  of  labor  everywhere.  The  towns 
and  cities  are  of  course  very  much  better  off;  yet  I 
think  that  if  people  generally  made  up  their  minds 
to  live  in  the  east,  as  they  are  obliged  to  in  the  west, 
to  dwell  in  simple  houses,  eat  coarse  food,  forego 
mental  training,  social  advantages,  personal  comfort, 
amusements  and  society,  there  would  not  be  a  tithe  of 
the  difference  there  is  now  in  the  yearly  account  of 
profit  and  loss. 

Even  luxury  in  those  distant  territories  cannot  at- 
tain the  enjoyments,  temporal  and  spiritual,  which  are 
as  much  parts  of  our  usual  moderate  life  here  as  sun- 
light. (That  is  a  bad  simile  ;  there  is  n't  much  sunlight 
left  in  to  spoil  the  carpets  of  our  comfortable  New 
England  homes ;  I  should  have  chosen  some  other 
universal  but  despised  gift  of  God.) 

In  climate  even  I  am  inclined  to  think  we  have  the 
best  of  it.  For  delicate  people,  in  whom  great  changes 
of  temperature  produce  gradations  in  healthfulness, 
there  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  propriety  of  going 
where  the  world  swings  always  between  two  or  three 
degrees,  and  the  equal  air  keeps  the  even  tenor  of  its 
way  through  all  seasons.  But  for  persons  born  with- 
out special  ailment,  I  cannot  help  feeling  that  the  wide 
range  of  countries  which  know  both  winter  and  sum- 
mer is  healthiest  as  well  as  happiest.  There  are 
virtues  of  mind  and  body,  notably  those  of  vigor  and 
endurance,  which  seem  to  require  the  struggle  with 
cold  or  inclemency  to  develop.  Any  one  who  has 


ON  THE  WING.  217 

ever  felt  the  invigorating  heartiness  of  a  walk  on  a 
cold  day,  and  the  strength  with  which  brain,  as  well 
as  body,  works  under  the  fine  inspiration  of  a  keen, 
clear  atmosphere,  knows  that  the  more  seductive 
sweetness  of  summer  never  brings  an  equal  incentive. 
The  climate  which  offers  the  recurrence  of  these 
differing  experiences  ought  to  be  richer  far  in  material 
for  nerve,  muscle  and  brain,  than  that  which  is  con- 
fined within  narrower  limits.  Even  home  affections 
grow  stronger  v/hen  they  are  nursed  by  the  fireside. 
It  would  be  unfair  to  judge  East  and  West  by  the 
same  standard  to-day :  both  advantage  and  disadvan- 
tage are  too  unequally  balanced;  but  whenever  the 
time  comes  to  make  comparison  possible,  I  am  ready 
to  prophesy  that  the  more  changeful  seasons  will  have 
the  highest  place. 

It  was  worth  going  away  from  home  if  we  brought 
back  nothing  else  than  this  content  with  the  dear  old 
spot  to  which  we  belonged ;  and  coming  through 
western  Massachusetts  through  that  long  June  day, 
fresh  from  the  delights  of  the  shining  world  beyond, 
which  we  had  enjoyed  so  thoroughly,  we  realized  with 
new  delight,  as  the  swift  miles  flew  past,  that  for 
human  nature's  best  development,  there  was  nothing 
wanting  in  the  country  about  us.  Back  came  the 
beloved  daisies,  foaming  in  white  billows  across  green  ' 
meadows,  and  the  fragrance  of  dull,  red  clover ;  back 
the  dear  rock-ribbed  fields,  with  their  mellow  toning 
of  sorrel  in  brown  and  terra-cotta;  back  the  precise 
little  market-gardens  and  the  thriving  towns  which 


2l8  ON  THE  WING. 

made  them  profitable.  Even  the  mills  and  manufac- 
tories looked  as  if  the  corporations  who  built  them 
had  some  apology  for  a  soul,  as  the  lines  of  clean, 
little  houses  crept  up  under  the  shelter  of  the  one  big 
building,  like  a  brood  of  chickens  under  the  wing  of  a 
mother  hen.  How  palatial  they  looked  after  the  one 
or  two-room  board-shanty,  opening  directly  from  the 
gray  desert  of  the  plains  !  And  the  comparative  moral 
cleanliness  in  the  lessening  quota  of  saloons  and 
drinking-dens,  if  smaller  material  number  is  any  indi- 
cation, numerous  enough,  heaven  knows !  yet,  but 
not  with  the  infernal  preponderance  of  Western  cus- 
tom, where  it  looked  as  if  every  half-dozen  men  must 
own  a  private  bar-room.  I  know  that  many  intelligent 
people  stoutly  deny  that  there  is  any  greater  propor- 
tion of  intemperance  beyond  the  Rockies  than  here 
at  home,  and  so  far  as  cases  of  actual  drunkeness  go, 
they  may  be  able  to  uphold  the  statement  by  genuine 
statistics.  But  that  does  not  change  the  absolute 
fact  of  the  universality  of  the  custom  of  drinking. 
A  thousand  ingenious  reasons  are  offered  for  this: 
the  difficulty  of  procuring  good  water,  the  peculiari- 
ties of  climate,  the  life  of  greater  hardship  and 
exposure,  the  heterogeneous  conditions  of  society, 
and  even  the  large-hearted  generosity  of  a  people 
who  like  to  show  their  friendliness  in  even  such 
small  matters  as  "setting  up  drinks  for  the  crowd." 
No  doubt  all  these  have  weight,  yet  none  of  them 
make  good  excuse  for  an  improper  and  dangerous 
custom. 


ON  'THE   WING.  219 

And  now,  as  the  afternoon  sun  drops  lower,  what 
fair  city  is  this  that  rises  in  the  east,  throned  like  a 
queen  above  the  silver  Charles,  many-towered  and 
pinnacled,  with  clustering  roof  and  taper  spire  ?  How 
proud  she  looks,  yet  modest,  as  one  too  sure  of  her 
innate  nobility  to  need  adventitious  aid  to  impress- 
others.  Look  at  the  aesthetic  simplicity  of  her  pose 
on  the  single  hill,  which  is  all  the  mistaken  kindness 
of  her  children  has  left  of  the  three  mountains  which 
were  her  birthright.  Behold  the  stately  avenues  that 
stretch  by  bridge  and  road,  radiating  her  lavish  favors 
in  every  direction  ;  look  at  the  spreading  suburbs  that 
crowd  beyond  her  gates,  more  beautiful  than  the  parks 
and  pleasure-grounds  of  her  less  favored  sisters.  See 
where  she  sits,  small  but  precious,  her  pretty  feet  in 
the  blue  waters  that  love  to  dally  about  them ;  her 
pretty  head,  in  its  brave  gilt  cap,  as  near  the  clouds 
as  she  can  manage  to  get  it ;  her  arms  full  of  what- 
ever is  rarest  and  dearest^  and  best.  For  does  n't 
she  hold  the  "  Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table  "  and 
Bunker  Hill,  Faneuil  Hall  and  Harvard  College  ? 
Do  not  the  fiery  eloquence  of  Phillips,  the  songs  of 
Longfellow,  the  philosophy  of  Fisk,  the  glory  of  the 
Great  Organ,  and  the  native  lair  of  culture,  belong 
with  her  ?  Ah  !  why  should  we  not  "  tell-  truth  and 
shame  the  devil  " — does  n't  she  bring  to  us  the  babies 
and  the  family  doctor  ? 

To  the  portion  of  the  pleasant  company  who  have 
made  the  long  journey  together  —  for  some  still  hold 
their  heads  to  other  stars  and  some  yet  linger  by  the 


220  ON  THE  WING. 

way  —  I  would  rather  say  aii  revoir  than  adieu,  wish- 
ing to  each  of  them,  meantime,  "gluck  auf,"  in  the 
formula  of  another  good-natured  wanderer,  "Here's 
to  your  good  health  and  your  families  !  May  you  live 
long  and  prosper."  I  reserve  for  another  chapter  what 
I  desire  to  say  on  the  general  subject  of  excursions. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

PROS    AND    CONS   ON   THE    SUBJECT    OF   EXCURSIONS, 

IT  is  a  significant  though  much  neglected  fact,  that 
both  the  Greeks  and  Romans  made  their  spirit 
of  wisdom  a  goddess.  Astute  as  .they  werer 
they  understood  thoroughly  that  no  masculine  divinity 
could  have  possessed  the  staying  power  of  holding 
back  trom  conclusions  before  all  his  premises  were 
before  him.  Only  a  woman  could  have  the  clear 
eyes  to  see  the  truth  where  it  was  hidden,  and  the 
clear  head  to  retard  her  judgment  until  she  had  un- 
earthed the  whole  of  it.  If  this  theory  disagrees  with 
later  opinion  on  the  subject,  it  would  not  surprise  me; 
men  have  had  too  much  to  do  with  the  world  of  late 
years  to  get  a  fair  show  for  woman  without  a  fight  for 
it.  But  I  would  simply  like  to  point  them  to  the  truth 
that  it  was  Pallas  Athena  who  sprang  from  the  brain 
of  Jove,  a  fujl-statured,  well-armored,  solid,  intellectual 
fact,  and  the  Greeks  knew  what  they  were  about  when 
they  worshipped  her.  This  is  why,  out  of  loyalty  to 
my  sex  and  an  idea,  I  have  waited  to  the  end  before 
hazarding  any  incomplete  conclusions ;  a  rash,  mis- 
guided man,  spoiled  by  a  long  course  of  political  bias 
for  ever  being  able  to  look  judicially  at  anything, 
would  have  swamped  you  with  contradictory  opinions 
a  dozen  times  in  the  record  of  these  three  months. 


222  ON   THE   WING. 

I  confess  to  having  had  a  strong  bias  against  excur- 
sions in  the  outset.  The  disadvantages  of  such  modes 
of  travelling  are  apparent  on  the  outside.  There  is 
the  planning  of  a  trip  by  some  person  or  persons 
unknown,  whereby  your  time  is  absolutely  disposed  of, 
and  no  chance  allowed  for  exercising  your  own  predi- 
lections as  to  hurry  or  loitering.  You  are  wound  up, 
so  to  speak,  at  the  start,  to  go  for  a  certain  number  of 
days  or  weeks  or  months  ;  you  know  beforehand  where 
you  will  turn  up  at  a  certain  hour,  just  as  well  as  you 
know  the  ultimate  end  of  the  letter  you  put  in  the 
post-office.  Besides,  you  are  one  of  a  crowd  ;  you  are 
not  an  individual,  endowed,  as  the  catechism  hath  it, 
"with  understanding  and  free  will,"  but  an  atom,  to 
be  pushed  or  hindered  in  common  with  the  mass  to 
which  you  belong.  This  to  a  sensitive  nature,  counts 
for  a  great  deal ;  for  though  personality  is  in  a  measure 
lost,  there  is  a  publicity  given  to  all  one's  movements, 
which  has  the  effect  of  making  one  feel  notorious,  and 
notoriety  even  of  a  pleasant  kind  is  distasteful  to 
many.  You  feel  labeled  and  ticketed  like  your  trunk 
and  shawl;  or  you  feel  as  if  you  were  going  to  feel 
so,  which  amounts  to  the  same  thing  so  far  as  you  are 
concerned. 

But  here  the  drawbacks  end ;  and  the  advantages, 
which  overbalance  them  a  hundred  fold,  but  which, 
being  weightier,  do  not  rise  so  easily  to  the  surface, 
begin  to  claim  recognition.  By  becoming  one  of 
a  Raymond  excursion  party — for  I  will  speak  only 
of  what  I  know — you  are  enabled  to  start  on  your 
pleasure  jaunt  with  the  first  grand  requisite  for  true 


ON   THE   WING.  223 

enjoyment:  a  mind  absolutely  free  from  care  about 
your  destination  or  your  belongings.  Your  special 
section  of  your  special  car  is  always  ready  for  you ; 
no  matter  how  roads  change  or  trains  are  made  up  ; 
you  hold  the  same  relative  position  to  the  end,  and 
see  the  same  friendly  faces  near.  This  gives  a  home 
feeling  that  no  haphazard  arrangement  of  neighbors 
could  offer,  and  makes  itself  felt  as  a  real  boon  before 
the  devious  journey  is  well  begun.  You  have  no 
thought  of  the  morrow;  wiser  heads  than  yours  are 
arranging  your  rooms  at  the  next  stopping-place,  see- 
ing to  the  transfer  of  your  luggage,  planning  your 
rides  and  drives  with  congenial  company,  so  that  when 
you  enter  the  carriage  and  drive  to  your  hotel  you  find 
your  own  trunk  in  your  own  apartment,  as  if  it  had 
grown  there.  Any  one  who  has  ever  experienced  the 
delays  and  annoyances  of  even  an  ordinary  journey  in 
a  new  direction,  by  reason  of  hackmen  and  checks, 
hotel  porters  and  clerks,  will  appreciate  what  this 
means.  The  long  route  of  travel  is  subdivided  into  a 
succession  of  short  trips,  with  a  few  days  or  nights' 
rest  between  each ;  in  every  new  city,  prominent  points 
of  interest  are  grouped  together  and  brought  to  your 
notice ;  whatever  is  worth  seeing  is  thrown  open  to 
you  without  any  of  the  usual  formalities  of  introduc- 
tion ;  you  are  lodged  always  at  the  best  houses ;  and, 
although  it  is  impossible  for  every  one  in  so  large  a 
number  to  have  the  very  best  room  on  the  very  best 
floor  of  each  house,  you  will  find  your  accommodation 
quite  as  good  as  the  average.  It  is  often  very  much 
above  this ;  for,  whereas,  when  alone,  some  sudden 


224  ON    fHE 

influx  of  travel  may  so  fill  your  chosen  hotel  as  to  leave 
for  you  only  a  closet  or  a  cot-bed,  as  one  of  a  party, 
arranged  for  beforehand,  you  are  always  sure  of  com- 
fortable quarters.  At  meal-stations,  in  out-of-the-way 
places,  especially  through  the  newer  settlements,  you 
are  invariably  better  cared  for  than  the  ordinary  trav- 
eller; for  the  keeper  of  a  restaurant,  certain  of  a  posi- 
tive large  number,  makes  generous  preparation,  where, 
for  the  insecure  patronage  of  usual  trains,  he  could  not 
run  the  risk.  You  travel  almost  entirely  by  special 
train,  which  gives  more  time  for  refreshment,  and  does 
away  with  many  petty  trials,  both  of  delay  and  huny. 
A  lady  is  enabled  to  visit  places  usually  out  of  a 
woman's  reach,  and  with  no  need  of  personal  escort, 
since  the  management  takes  unusual  care  of  all  those 
who  have  no  especial  protector.  Taken  as  a  whole, 
your  travelling  companions  are  of  a  far  more  select 
class  than  would  fall  to  your  lot  in  e very-clay  journey- 
ing. To  prove  this,  you  have  only  to  walk  through  the 
cars  of  any  regular  train,  which  may  from  time  to  time 
come  in  connection  with  your  own.  Little  courtesies, 
in  the  shape  of  special  time-tables,  cards  or  pamphlets 
of  information  regarding  new  routes,  the  personal  at- 
tendance from  point  to  point  of  superintendents  of 
new  roads,  and  scores  of  other  helpful  and  reassuring 
attentions,  keep  one  at  ease  through  the  long  journey. 
And  you  are  not  obliged  to  be  on  terms  of  absolute 
intimacy  with  every  one  whose  name  you  find  on 
your  pretty  souvenir  programme.  People  will  choose 
their  own  particular  friends,  and  will  take  you  or  leave 
you,  just  as  they  see  fit,  and  you  will  exercise  a  similar 


ON  THE  WING. 


225 


right.  There  will  be  the  pleasant,  good  feeling  of  a 
community  assimilated  by  the  same  desires  and  same 
ends,  but  that  is  all.  You  know  in  the  outset  the 
exact  amount  of  expense  to  be  incurred,  and  can  leave 
what  margin  for  other  spending  you  choose;  and, 
unless  you  are  one  of  the  few  dowered  with  plenty  of 
money,  and  the  still  fewer  rich  in  plenty  of  time,  with 
a  good  head  for  planning,  and  a  magnificent  genius  in 
the  way  of  executive  ability,  there  is  no  way  on  earth 
by  which  you  can  make  a  pleasure  trip  so  happily. 

You  will  find  always,  without  any  doubt,  a  few  pro- 
fessional grumblers,  "people  who  would  find  fault 
with  heaven  because  their  halo  did  not  fit,"  as  our 
picturesque  young  man  once  put  it,  who  will  try  to 
torture  you,  while  they  make  themselves  happy  by 
growling  out  odious  comparisons  and  sowing  spiteful 
innuendoes.  They  will  try  to  make  you  believe  that 
the  excursionists  are  sent  to  third-class  hotels  for 
third-rate  accommodations  ;  that  they  are  snubbed  by 
porters  and  sneered  at  by  waiters ;  that  they  travel 
under  a  cloud,  and,  as  it  were,  on  sufferance.  But 
use  your  own  eyes  and  ears;  exercise  your  own  intel- 
ligence, and  prove  whether  this  is  so.  It  is  an  unfor- 
tunate fact  in  natural  history  that  the  manners  of  the 
animal  man  become  still  more  animal  in  certain  situa- 
tions, and  that  Western  hotel  and  car  service  form 
part  of  these.  But  you  suffer  no  more  than  your 
neighbor,  the  regular  traveller.  There  was  a  Pullman 
porter  on  the  return  trip  who  used  to  fling  inoffending 
pillows  about  with  a  fine  scorn,  intended  to  show  that 
he  was  meant  for  better  things  than  making  up  berths 
15 


226  ON   THE   WING. 

in  sleeping-cars,  but  his  reign  of  terror  poured  alike 
over  the  just  and  the  unjust.  For  the  rest,  here  in  an 
excursion,  as  well  as  in  every  other  situation  of  life, 
you  will  find  yourself  treated  very  much  as  you 
deserve.  If  you  are  selfish,  imperious  and  domineer- 
ing, rude  to  your  fellow-servant,  and  inflated  with  the 
importance  of  the  sordid,  little-souled  Ego,  who  can 
stoop  to  be  ungenerous  or  impolite  to  an  inferior, 
then  you  will  be  thoroughly  hated  and  genuinely 
snubbed,  and  take  my  compliments  with  it;  but  if  you 
keep  a  civil  tongue  in  your  head  and  a  kindly  thought 
in  your  heart  for  those  who  are  ministering  to  your 
pleasure  or  convenience ;  if  you  mingle  a  little  human- 
ity with  your  every-day  manners,  and  have  a  remnant, 
at  least,  of  that  true  dignity  which  is  above  being 
wounded  by  every  pin-prick,  you  will  go  on  healthily 
and  happily,  and  find  the  world  what  you  make  it.  A 
Raymond  excursionist  has  no  coupon  which  absolves 
him  from  the  ordinary  courtesies  of  life. 

As  concerns  the  means  of  travel,  they  are  the  best 
we  are  capable  of  yet,  though  I  am  surprised  to  find 
the  best  so  bad.  In  all  the  years  that  have  elapsed 
since  the  invention  of  palace  and  sleeping-cars,  it  is 
discouraging  to  think  so  few  improvements  have  been 
made  in  them.  There  is  the  same  atrocious  ventila- 
tion, especially  at  night,  when  it  is  Hobson's  choice 
whether  you  will  suffocate  for  want  of  air,  or  be 
smothered  by  coal  dust.  There  are  the  same  infernal 
curtains,  hot,  heavy  and  dusty,  sealing  the  sarcophagus 
of  a  berth  hermetically,  whereas  the  lightest  and  thin- 
nest muslin  drapery  would  answer  all  purposes  of 


ON  THE   WING.  227 

concealment  and  give  one  a  chance-breath  for  life 
besides.  Stupidity  cannot  go  further  than  in  the  con- 
tinuance of  these  dreadful  woolen  draperies,  in  place 
of  a  light,  penetrable  screening  of  wire  gauze,  or  some- 
thing equally  clean  and  porous.  To  say  they  are 
necessary  evils,  is  absurd  on  the  face  of  it;  if  Yankee 
ingenuity  cannot  meet  the  question  of  draughts  by 
any  other  means  than  choking  the  individual  to  put 
him  out  of  danger  of  catching  cold,  it  is  certainly 
wanting  in  its  old-time  gumption.  There  is  the  same 
incomplete  toilet  arrangement,  so  wofully  inadequate 
to  the  number  of  aspirants  for  cleanliness ;  and  the 
same  unkind  distinction  between  masculine  and  femi- 
nine races,  by  which  the  men  have  twice  as  much 
accommodation  as  the  women.  This,  I  am  told,  is 
because  twice  or  three  times  the  number  of  men  travel 
as  of  women ;  but,  in  that  case,  could  not  some 
divison  be  made  by  which  women  alone,  or  with 
escorts,  could  have  one  car  on  each  train,  and  have  in 
that  car  at  least  equal  rights  with  their  husbands  or 
brothers  ?  There  would  always  be  more  trouble  in 
the  lady's  car;  for  the  very  fact  of  their  being  less 
used  to  journeying  makes  them  less  able  to  be  me- 
thodical, and  more  apt,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  to  be  incon- 
siderate to  each  other.  I  have  seen  one  inoffensive 
looking  little  woman  stay  thirty  minutes  bathing,  and 
arranging  her  hair  and  dress,  while  eleven  others 
waited  their  turn,  and  the  breakfast-station  was  less 
than  an  hour  off.  But  such  incomprehensible  stupidity 
does  not  alter  the  fact  that  we  ought  to  have  at  least 
equal  washing  facilities.  What  is  a  man's  toilet  while 


228  ON   THE   WING. 

travelling,  whether  or  no,  but  a  splutter  and  splash,  a 
scrub  with  a  towel,  and  a  momentary  tussle  with  a 
hair-brush ;  a  tug  at  a  shoulder-brace  and  a  jerk  at  a 
collar,  a  twitch  at  a  neck-tie  and  wrestle  with  a  sleeve- 
button,  a  slap  at  a  vest  and  dash  at  a  coat,  —  and  there 
he  is,  looking  as  if  he  stepped  out  of  a  band-box. 
But  a  woman !  think  of  the  back-hair  and  front-hair, 
the  frizzes  and  bangs,  the  underskirts  and  overskirts 
and  draperies,  the  mysteries  of  the  nail  toilet,  the 
artful  artlessnesses  of  neck  trimmings,  the  many- 
buttoned  boots,  the  crinoline  and  pull-backs  ;  think  of 
the  slow  and  laborious  progress  toward  final  perfec- 
tion, of  her  dainty  deftness  and  exquisite  nicety,  and 
think  of  it  all  in  a  closet  three  feet  square  in  a  train 
going  thirty  miles  an  hour,  with  a  dozen  anxious  and 
aimless  ones  waiting  outside  and  making  audible 
comments  on  her  slowness  !  O,  it  is  easy  to  see  that 
the  sleeping-car  is  a  masculine  invention  !  In  order 
of  excellence,  the  Pullman  comes  easily  first;  it  is 
roomier,  brighter  and  fresher;  its  pillows  are  larger, 
and  there  is  some  resting-place  for  the  poor,  tired 
porter.  The  Silver  palace  cars  come  next ;  they  are 
nearly  as  good  as  the  Pullman  ;  the  Wagner  comes  last 
of  all,  and  a  long  way  behind.  People  who  do  not 
travel  farther  than  Chicago  have  the  very  poorest  ap- 
pointments ;  the  Wagner  has  a  monopoly  of  the  East. 
As  the  requisites  for  a  California  journey,  the  less 
one  burdens  one's  self  with  the  better.  There  are 
certain  essentials  and  a  few  ameliorations  which  it 
would  be  well  to  keep  in  mind.  One  wants  at  almost 
any  season  of  the  year  a  strong,  plain,  comfortable 


ON  THE  WING.  22Q 

travelling-dress,  short  and  easy,  of  some  close-grained 
woolen  material,  as  absolutely  free  from  trimming  as 
is  consistent  with  good  taste.  Trimmings  mean  dust, 
and  dust  soon  means  dirt  and  frowsiness.  Gray,  with 
some  decided  bit  of  color  about  the  collar  and  sleeves, 
is  best,  for  gray  alone  is  unbecoming  to  most  people ; 
peacock-blue  is  both  serviceable  and  pretty;  light 
browns  are  admissible,  but  dark  colors,  almost  with- 
out exception,  show  the  wear  and  tear  of  travel  sooner 
than  others.  If  a  second  travelling-dress  could  be 
taken  to  provide  against  emergencies,  it  would  be 
always  well;  better,  if  it  is  thinner  than  the  first,  so 
that  oppressively  hot  weather  might  find  it  available. 
An  ulster  is  the  most  convenient  outer  wrap,  for  it 
protects  the  dress  and  leaves  the  arms  free,  and  a 
gossamer  waterproof  can  be  kept  in  one  of  its  pockets. 
The  underclothes  should  be  all  of  gray,  light  both  in 
shade  and  texture ;  nothing  is  so  wearing  as  a  heavy 
weight  of  clothing  borne  on  hips  and  shoulders,  in 
addition  to  other  fatigue.  This  much  of  change,  with 
a  pair  of  easy  boots,  or  slippers  for  the  cars,  should 
be  kept  among  the  hand-luggage  in  a  stout  strap.  The 
toilet  arrangements,  with  a  light  woolen  wrapper  or 
sacque,  for  night  wear,  can  go  in  a  satchel.  The 
trunk  can  be  packed  to  suit  one's  self,  always  remem- 
bering that  there  is  no  need  of  an  overplus  of 
changes,  as  soiled  clothes  can  be  laundried  at  every 
city  where  there  is  a  two-days'  rest ;  and  one  best 
dress,  or  two  at  most,  makes  ample  allowance  for  a 
three-months'  stay.  One  wants  a  dress-hat  and  mantle 
for  state  occasions ;  any  kind  of  simple,  becoming 


230  ON  THE  WING. 

head-gear  for  travelling  ;  a  long  tissue  veil  of  silk  and 
wool,  which  will  probably  be  worn,  to  the  exclusion  of 
everything  else  about  head  and  neck,  in  the  cars,  as 
a  protection  from  dust  and  ashes,  through  most  of 
the  journey ;  a  pair  of  stout  boots  for  rough  or  stormy 
walking,  and  as  many  pairs  of  long-wristed  gloves  as 
your  purse  will  allow.  There  is  nothing  like  a  rail- 
road trip  for  using  up  gloves.  By  the  way,  I  must 
not  forget  the  purse  itself,  arid  you  must  not  forget  to 
put  money  in  it.  There  are  a  thousand  and  one  little 
calls  not  down  on  the  bills,  and  not  absolutely  neces- 
sary, but  which  are  sure  to  come,  nevertheless. 

A  man's  needs  I  cannot  speak  about  so  decidedly; 
whatever  sort  of  trousers  will  bear  wear  and  tear  and 
look  none  the  worse  for  it;  whatever  kind  of  coat  and 
vest  will  remain  always  respectable  in  the  face  of  insult 
and  injury;  whatever  manner  of  suit,  in  short,  will 
admit  of  being  grimed  by  soot  and  ashes,  wet  by  rain, 
crumpled  by  sitting  up  or  lying  down,  and  played  the 
mischief  with  generally,  yet  always  be  neat  and  tidy; 
that  is  the  kind  of  stuff  they  need,  whether  they  buy  it 
at  Oak  Hall  or  Randidge's.  But  I  know  they  want 
colored  shirts,  lightly  tinted,  either  wool  or  cambric, 
and  some  loose  sailor  ties,  and  as  many  boots  as  their 
female  cousins,  and  two  or  three  hats  to  be  blown 
away  over  the  plains  or  in  San  Francisco  harbor. 
That  is  the  favorite  amusement.  The  Big  Boy  says 
they  need  also  a  suit  of  Pjammas,  whatever  that 
dreadful  sounding  article  may  be. 

They  need  beside,  both  men  and  women,  plenty  of 
good  humor  and  a  fair  share  of  health,  a  quiet  con- 


ON  THE   WING.  231 

science  and  a  little  leaven  of  consideration.  Having 
which  graces,  which  God  has  graciously  placed  within 
reach  of  every  human,  I  can  wish  them  no  better  gift 
to  set  them  off,  than  a  Russia-leather  bound  book 
of  coupons  for  a  Raymond  excursion  to  Colorado  and 
California. 


INDEX. 


Page. 

Alkali  Plains 185 

An  Adobe  House 76 

Apache  Canon .       _.  65 

A  Ride  in  the  Engine       ........  19 

Arizona  Desert        .........  82 

A  Woman's  Judgment 221 

Bathing  in  Salt  Lake 196 

Big  Trees  —  Mariposa  Grove     ........  129 

Boston 219 

Burros,  The        .         .         .      • 43 

Cable-roads  and  "Dummies"        .         .         .         .         .         .         .  155 

Cactus,  The        .        .         .        . 24 

California  Desert 84 

Cattle  on  Plains          ..........  205 

Chicago 5 

Chinese  Laborers        .  • 174 

Chinese  Quarter      .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  151 

Chinese  Question 159 

Chinese  Tea-house 152 

Chinese  Theatre 153 

Circular,  Western  Hotel         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  201 

Clark's 105 

Clear  Creek  Canon 40 

Coarse  Gold  Gulch    ......                         f  103 

Colorado  ............  23 

Colorado  Springs 41 

Comparison  between  East  and  West    .         .         .         .         .         .  215 

Contrasts  in  Scenery 205 

Council  Bluffs 206 

Cow-catcher,  Riding  on  the 55 

Currency 166 

Denver        ............  38 

Deserted  Mining  Camps 170 

Dining-Car          .        .        .         .         .        .        .         .         .         .        .17 


234  INDEX. 


Page. 

Echo  Canon        

.     199 

El  Paso  

Emigrant  Wagons      

.      202 

Excursions,  Advantages  of    .                 . 

222 

First  Experience  in  a  Sleeper  .... 

I 

Foot-Hills        

Fort  Yuma          .        .        . 

.            .            .            .         83 

Fruit  in  California          

165 

Garden  of  the  Gods  ...... 

.            .            .            .34 

Glacier  Point  .         .        .         .         . 

121 

Grand  Canon  of  the  Arkansas 

.         50 

Grass  Valley    

182 

Green  River        ..... 

.       2OI 

Habits  of  Drinking         

2l8 

Hotel  del  Monte        

•       145 

Hydraulic  Mining  ....... 

,            I78 

Inspiration  Point        

.       1  08 

Iowa         

207 

Irrigation  in  California      

.       162 

Kansas    ........ 

18 

Kansas  City       

.       17 

Las  Vegas       

63 

Los  Angeles       

,      87 

Manitou  ......... 

33 

Marshall's  Pass          

•       53 

Mexican  Dance       .         

69 

Mining  Interests         ...... 

.     169 

23 

Monterey     ........ 

Montezuma,  The     

•         •         •           63 

Motto  in  a  Dining-room     .         .         .         . 

.       50 

TVTnrmnns     The 

1  88 

Nebraska 

.                                206 

209 

Ohio                                                .... 

.         .         206 

Orange  Groves   

.       93 

Outfit  for  California  trip         

228 

Placer 

49 

INDEX.  235 

Page. 

Pretty  Maid  of  Antonito 57 

Pueblo 27 

Pueblo  Indians 71 

Pullman  Cars 13-^7 

Quartz  Mining '  180 

Raton 61 

Rock  Island 207 

Royal  Gorge 51 

Sacramento      ...........  164 

Salt  Lake  City 187 

Santa  Fe 65 

Santa  Monica 95 

Scout,  Indian 203 

Sheep  and  Shepherds 62 

Sierra  Madre  Villa 87 

Sleeping  Cars 226 

Smartsville 177 

Snow-sheds 202 

Society  in  San  Francisco 149 

Southern  California   .     , 85 

Speculation,  The  fever  of 157 

Tabernacle  at  Salt  Lake,  The 192 

Toilet  Accommodations  in  Sleepers 227 

Toltec  Gorge      .                          55 

Trinidad 59 

United  States  Soldier  s 30 

Veta  Pass 54 

Vineyards  in  April 5 

Western  Massachusetts 217 

Western  Sheriff,  A 81 

Wheat  Valleys  near  Sacramento 172 

Why  Wisdom  was  a  Goddess 221 

Wyoming  Grazing  Plains       .         . 200 

Yosemite,  Stage-Ride  into  the 100 

Yosemite,  Valley  of  the in 


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m^T"  Fcr  information,  rates  and  itineraries,  address 

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TO  NEW  MEXICO,  the  "Old  Curiosity  Shop"  of  America.  New 
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SPECIAL    ACCOMMODATIONS   FOR    BRIDAL   PARTIES. 

GEO.   SCHONEWALD,  Manager^ 


